Peres, Abdullah Discuss Israeli-Palestinian ConflictIsraeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres phoned Jordanian King Abdullah bin Hussein on Thursday, urging him to help bring an end to the six-month-old Israeli- Palestinian conflict.In their phone conversation, Peres briefed the king about the ongoing conflict, alleging that 40 percent of "the recent Palestinian attacks against the Israelis were taking place with the knowledge or participation of the Palestinian security forces," said the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Abdullah responded by saying that he will do everything in his power to help bring an end to the conflict and bring the Israeli and Palestinian sides to return to the negotiating table. Peres has been contacting world leaders recently in efforts to publicize the "Palestinian security force's increasing role in terror attacks" on Israelis. Meanwhile, the ministry said, Israel's Ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel called on Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed El Ourabi in Cairo on Thursday to brief him on the recent development in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In fresh violence overnight, a member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's special guard unit was killed by Israeli tank shells which the Israeli army said it fired in response to mortar fire on two Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army and Palestinians exchanged gunfire on Thursday in several locations in the strip, but no casualties were reported so far. |
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