Israel Expects Agreement From Mideast Summit: Spokesman

An Israeli spokesman Monday expressed hope that an agreement will be reached at the Middle East summit to contain the tension in the Palestinian territories and bring the situation back to normal.

"We need a written agreement" for a cessation of hostility and no more fire, Nahman Shai told reporters.

If a cease-fire is reached between Israel and the Palestinians, the summit should be considered a success, which will enable the two sides to "set a date for continuing negotiations on future arrangements," the spokesman said.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Jordanian King Abdullah II and the European Union's foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana met in this Red Sea resort to discuss ways of stopping the more than two weeks of violence in the Palestinian territories.

An agreement will be "a positive message to the people of Israel and the Palestinians," Shai said.

He, meanwhile, stressed the importance to restore the confidence between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which he said has been devastated by the bloody clashes in past few weeks.

The Israeli spokesman warned against failure of the summit, which he said will "mean that we are going back to see more violence."

This violence may not just confined to the Israelis and the Palestinians, Shai said, warning that the violence "may roar all over the Middle East and that's the worst."

The continuing clashes in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza have claimed the lives of more than 100 people and wounded 3,000 others, mostly Palestinians.

The violence started on September 28 after Israel's right-wing opposition Likud party leader Ariel Sharon visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem, revered by both Jews and Muslims.

The holy shrine, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, was at the heart of a dispute between Israel and the Palestinians over the future status of Jerusalem, which caused the collapse of the Camp David summit in July.



People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/