 |
Israel Okays Mitchell Report with Reservations: Paper
Israel has basically accepted the Mitchell report prepared by an international fact-finding team on the causes of the Israeli-Palestinian violence with two major reservations, Israel's Ha'aretz daily reported on Monday.
According to the daily, the decision was made at a Sunday's late night meeting attended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and is expected to be announced on Monday.
Peres, a leading dove in the national unity government, reportedly suggested at the meeting that Israel should entirely accept the report, which was published by the international committee led by former U.S. senator George Mitchell earlier this month.
He argued that the document could serve as a basis for further negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian violence, which has lasted more than seven months and claimed lives of more than 500 people, most of them Palestinians.
He feared that a rejection of the report will damage Israel's international images and face great pressure from the United States and the European Union.
But his suggestion was rejected by other participants, and Sharon decided to raise two reservations to the report, although he agreed to accept the document in principle.
The first reservation is about the report's linkage between the ending the violence and a total freezing of Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Israeli government will point out that Israel has refrained from setting up new settlements but it has to satisfy settlers' " ongoing needs," or "natural growth" demands.
The second reservation is about the Mitchell report's severe criticism of the Israeli army's excessive use of forces.
Israel is expected to argue that Israeli soldiers have generally been restrained in its use of force against Palestinian demonstrators, according to the Ha'aretz report.
The Mitchell report urged Israel to halt all kinds of settlement activities, called on both sides to stop violence and resume negotiations after a cooling period.
Israel and the Palestinians have to respond to the report before Tuesday. The EU foreign ministers, meanwhile, will discuss the Mideast violence in general, and the Mitchell report in particular at their meeting in Brussels on Monday.
In This Section
|