Israel Rules out International Involvement in Future Peace TalksIsrael has ruled out the possibility that more international bodies will be involved in the future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations once they are resumed.Israeli government spokesman Nachman Shai expressed the stance at a news briefing here on Wednesday. Shai said Israel does not want other countries to "intervene in the affairs of the region." He said the future peace talks, once they are resumed, would be conducted between the Israelis and Palestinians with the sponsorship of the United States. The spokesman said that the current focus of efforts has shifted from military clashes to diplomatic efforts and the situation in the West Bank and Gaza has substantially quieted down despite ongoing sporadic skirmishes. Shai expressed appreciations of the efforts made by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Diplomatic and Security Chief of the European Union Javier Solana and British Foreign Minister Robin Cook. Annan held an impromptu meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak again on Wednesday following their first meeting on Tuesday. The secretary-general, who was originally scheduled to head for Beirut, flew to Gaza for another meeting with Arafat on Wednesday, the third in the past two days, and is flying back to meet Barak again. Shai refused to disclose whether there is a deal in the making under the auspices of Annan, whose visit has indeed brought about a marked reduction of incidents in the Palestinian territories which witnessed violent clashes in the past 14 days. The spokesman said with the abatement of violence in the West Bank and Gaza, the clashes inside Israel between Jews and Israeli Arabs have also significantly dropped. Israeli Minister of Science, Culture and Sports Matan Vilnai, who has been authorized to deal with internal hostilities that arose in the wake of the clashes in the Palestinian territories, has held a host of meeting with local leaders of the Arab community in the country to calm the situation and promised to deal with the problems that they have raised, said the spokesman. Shai was optimistic that that the Israelis and Palestinians will return to the negotiating table prior to the Arab Summit slated to be held on October 21 in Egypt to discuss ways to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. However, "Arafat will probably maintain a degree of intensity of the violence until the summit is convened," the spokesman told reporters. The latest round of clashes was sparked by Israeli opposition Likud leader Ariel Sharon's visit to a disputed Jerusalem Shrine, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Palestinians as al-Haram al-Sherif, or Noble Sanctuary. The sovereignty over the site, holy to both the Jews and Muslims, is the major stumbling block in the peace talks. |
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