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Arafat Meets US Mideast Envoy on Mideast Situation
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with US Mideast envoy William Burns in the West Bank city of Ramallah Friday evening, Palestinian sources said.
During the meeting, Arafat and Burns discussed the current situation in the Palestinian territories and the international efforts to halt the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Palestinian Minister of Local Government Saeb Erekat told reporters after the meeting that Arafat delivered to Burns some documents on Israel's continued aggressions, tightened closure and Jewish settlers' attacks against the Palestinians.
He said that such Israeli practices show that Israel does not want to return to the peace process, stressing Arafat's remarks on Thursday that "We can not separate security talks from political talks."
A Palestinian working team will hold a meeting with Burns on Saturday in an effort to seek a mechanism to set a timetable for implementing the recommendations of the Mitchell report as a whole, the Palestinian minister said.
Denying any Palestinian-Israeli contacts at present, he said that all the international efforts aimed at reviving the peace process have been impeded by the Israeli scheme to pursue aggressions against the Palestinians in a bid to destroy the peace process and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
The peace process should be revived through implementing international resolutions, putting an end to Israeli occupation and Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, he said.
For his part, Burns described his talks with Arafat as important, saying that such talks were part of his mission aiming at implementing the Mitchell report recommendations.
He said that the most important thing is to bring calm to the region, honor a ceasefire and implement Mitchell report's recommendations as a whole as early as possible.
He said that he will work with all parties concerned to break the circle of violence and resume negotiations.
The Mitchell report, released last month by an international inquiry committee led by former US senator George Mitchell, calls for an immediate ceasefire, a freeze on Jewish settlement activities and more determined actions against terrorism from the Palestinians.
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