No Talks with Palestinians under Sharm el Sheikh Deal: SharonIsraeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday that Israel will not resume peace talks with the Palestinians under the understandings reached at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh last October.Addressing a meeting of Israel's National Security Council and other senior security officials, who was preparing for Sharon's upcoming visit to the United States, Sharon said that his new government is not obligated to any peace deals reached with the Palestinians by former government led by Ehud Barak. So his government will not conduct peace negotiations with the Palestinians based on the Sharm el Sheikh deal, according to Sharon's office. At the meeting, head of the National Security Council Uzi Dayan proposed the new government resume talks with the Palestinians under the deal, which Israel reached with the help of the United States, the United Nations, Egypt and Jordan as well as representatives of the European Union. After the outbreak of widespread violence between Israelis and the Palestinians in September, Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met in Sharm el Sheikh in October trying to reduce the level of conflict. They later reached several understandings on ending the conflict, resuming security cooperation, lifting closure on the Palestinian territories, forming an international inquiry committee to probe the cause of clashes and resuming Israel-Palestinian peace talks with the help of the United States. However, both sides failed to carry out the agreement on the ground. Sharon, who was elected on February 6, insisted that the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks be resumed only after the Palestinians end anti-Israel violence and incitement, saying that he will tell the US administration about this during his maiden visit as premier. Moreover, he said that he will propose to the US administration that Arafat will not be invited to visit Washington before the violence ends. Sharon will leave for the US on Sunday and is scheduled to hold talks with President George W. Bush in Washington next Tuesday. This will be his first visit to the United States after taking office on March 7. |
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