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International Investigation Into Mideast Violence to Begin Soon: Egyptian Ambassador
Egypt's ambassador to Israel Mohamed Bassiouni said Saturday that an international committee to investigate the causes of the recent Palestinian-Israeli conflicts will start its work within a week.
In a telephone interview with Cairo Radio from Tel Aviv, Bassiouni said the arrangement was agreed upon in the truce understandings reached between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister Shimon Peres Wednesday night in Gaza.
The two sides agreed to take measures to stop more than a month of bloody clashes between the Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers, which have killed over 160 people, most of them Palestinians, and injured thousands.
The Egyptian ambassador said there are understandings that the committee will include former South African President Nelson Mandela and former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa Wednesday backed Demirel's nomination to head an international fact-finding commission, agreed by Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in a multilateral summit held in Egypt's Red Sea resort Sharm el Sheik last month, to investigate the violence.
The overwhelmingly Muslim-populated Turkey has been trying to pursued a balanced policy between the Arab countries and Israel, its ally in the Middle East.
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