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Arafat Holds Talks with EU Delegation on Palestine Situation
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held talks on Monday with a visiting European Union (EU) delegation on the latest developments of the situation in the Palestinian territories.
After the talks with the EU delegation, headed by Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, Arafat told reporters that the talks dealt with ways of ending bloody clashes between Israeli troops and the Palestinians.
The violence, which has rocked the region for more than five months, has left over 420 people dead, most of them Palestinians, and thousands of others wounded.
Asked about the possibility of meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Arafat said that he said on Saturday in a speech to the Palestine Council that the Palestinians were ready to resume talks with the Israelis if they want to do so.
On the economic situation in the Palestinian territories, Arafat said that "it is very hard."
Lindh, whose country is holding EU's rotating presidency for the first half of 2001, said that "the EU does its best to secure the continuation of the (Palestinian-Israeli) peace talks."
But she stressed that "what should be done depends mainly on the will of the concerned parties."
She said that she discussed with Arafat the economic situation of the Palestinians, reiterating EU's commitment to political and financial support for the Palestinians.
The EU delegation will meet with Sharon on Tuesday to further seek ways of putting an end to the Israeli-Palestinian violence, she added.
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