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Israeli Opposition Opposes Barak's Participation in Summit
Israeli opposition Likud party said Saturday that it opposes Prime Ministers Ehud Barak's participation in a Mideast summit in Egypt.
Uzi Landau, Likud's influential member of the Knesset (parliament), told Israel Radio that "the summit could be worthless and Barak should not agree to attend it."
"The Likud believes that Barak should not discuss a ceasefire with the Palestinians at the summit and if Barak goes to the summit, then there will be no chance for him to form an emergency government with the Likud," Landau threatened.
After ordering the air strikes on Palestinian targets in the West Bank city of Ramallah and Gaza city Thursday, Barak held several rounds of meetings with Israeli opposition parties, including the Likud, to discuss the formation of a "national emergency government" to face the challenges ahead.
Senior officials around Barak have said that such an emergency government, if formed, could remain in power for about one month, and then Barak would rethink to form a national unity government with the opposition based on the situation Israel will be facing.
Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat informed the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier in the day that they agreed to attend the summit that is scheduled to be held in Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh on Monday.
Commenting on holding the summit, Israeli acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said Saturday that although differences exist between the Israelis and the Palestinians on how to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the summit will definitely be a chance for the two sides to reach an agreement on stopping the violence and possibly for the two sides to revive the peace talks.
Annan, who cut short his visit to Beirut Thursday and returned to Israel to mediate between the Israeli and Palestinian sides as the hostility escalated following Israel's air strikes, said before departure for Egypt that the two sides do have some preconditions for attending the summit, but he will hold further consultations with U.S. President Bill Clinton and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to guarantee the success of the summit.
The most urgent issue for the summit is to find ways first to put an end to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Annan stressed.
As for the Palestinians, the preconditions they asked for include that Israel must halt the killing of the Palestinians, pull back its troops to former positions, and end immediately the closure on the Palestinian territories.
During the clashes, over 90 Palestinians had been killed and nearly 3,000 others wounded so far.
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