Inquiry Panel to Have "Fair, Just" Report on Mideast Violence: MitchellThe international fact-finding committee will undertake everything necessary to come up with "a fair and just" report on the causes of the ongoing violence in the Palestinian territories, said the head of the inquiry panel on Tuesday.George Mitchell, former US senator and chief of the committee, made the remark following the five-member panel's talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier Tuesday, the Middle East News Agency reported. Mitchell said that the committee briefed Mubarak on its mission and results of Monday's meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem as well as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza Strip. "I told the president that the committee will do its utmost to come up with a full, just and neutral report in the near future," Mitchell said. He also said that Monday's visit to the region was the first one which was aimed at meeting with leaders, adding that they will return several times to collect information from different sources at different levels. The Palestinians and Israel agreed in October on the creation of the fact-finding committee during a summit held in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh to investigate the cause of the ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians. Other members of the panel are former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland, Javier Solana, European Union's high representative for foreign and security policy, and former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman. Over 300 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed and thousands more injured in the bloody Israeli-Palestinian clashes, which was triggered by a provocative visit to a disputed holy site in East Jerusalem by Israeli right-wing leader Ariel Sharon on September 28. |
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