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Arafat Seeks Ways to Reduce Palestinian-Israeli Conflicts
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has met with Israeli Tourism Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak to discuss ways to reduce violence between the Palestinians and Israelis, said Palestinian sources on Wednesday.
Senior officers in charge of Palestinian security service attended the overnight meeting in Gaza, said the sources, adding that a similar meeting will be held on Wednesday.
In a statement to the press, Lipkin-Shahak, an Israeli security cabinet member, said that his meeting with Arafat was following up the four-way security meeting held in Cairo last Sunday.
Senior security officers from the Palestinian National Authority, Israel Egypt and the US attended the Sunday meeting, which was aimed at reducing violence in the Palestinian territories, but failed to meet the Palestinian demands to ease the Israeli closure of Palestinian territories and to reopen the Gaza airport.
Lipkin-Shahak said that meetings between Israeli and Palestinian security representatives are expected to be held within the next few days.
A meeting attended by all officials from both sides will be held very soon to make decisions on the coming steps, he added.
Lipkin-Shahak also expressed his hope that the coming days would witness less confrontations in the Palestinian territories.
Also Tuesday night, Arafat had a telephone conversation with U. S. President Bill Clinton, during which the two leaders exchanged views on the latest development in the Middle East.
Both leaders agreed that they should continue contacts and coordination in the coming days and take steps to follow the contacts, said Arafat's advisor Nabil Abu Redina, without elaborating on the steps.
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