Turkish FM in Cairo to Meet with Arafat on Mideast ViolenceTurkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem arrived in Cairo late Wednesday to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on the spiraling Palestinian-Israeli violence.Upon arrival, Cem said that he would brief Arafat, who was visiting here, on the results of his talks with Israeli officials during the day on the grave situation in the Palestinian territories, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency reported. Cem embarked on a trip Wednesday morning to pursue a shuttle diplomacy between Israel and the Palestinians in an effort to help stop the ongoing violence and restore the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel. During his day-long visit to Israel, Cem met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami to discuss the ideas Turkey has proposed to end the violence in the Palestinian territories. Arafat was in Cairo for a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a day after Egypt withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv in protest of Israel's massive missile attacks on Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip Monday evening. The more than seven weeks of violence between Israeli security forces and the Palestinians have left over 250 people dead, most of them Palestinians, and wounded thousands of others. Turkey, a Muslim country, has close military ties with Israel while it supports the Palestinians in their pursuit for an independent state with East Jerusalem as the capital and has slammed Israel for its escalating aggression against unarmed Palestinians. Around 50 Palestinians wounded in clashes with Israeli forces arrived in Ankara in the day and were hospitalized for treatment. The Egyptian news agency did not say whether the Turkish minister would meet with Egyptian officials during his brief stop in Cairo. |
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