Barak Denies Secret Talks with PalestiniansIsraeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak denied on December 5 reports that the Israel is conducting secret talks with the Palestinians, Israel Radio said.Speaking during a tour to a Israel Defense Forces (IDF) base in the north of the West Bank, Barak said certain contacts are underway between the two sides. The prime minister said Israel had adopted some measures to facilitate the lives of Palestinians ahead of Muslims' fasting month of Ramadan which fell on November 27. If the measures failed to help ease the tense situation, they will be cancelled, said Barak. The more than two months of bloody clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have claimed nearly 300 lives, mostly Palestinians. Threatened by a further escalation of the violence during the Ramadan, the Israelis and Palestinians have taken some "confidence- building measures" so as to reduce the tensions. |
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