Israel, Palestinians Postpone Security MeetingIsraeli and Palestinian security officials decided to postpone their meeting to Monday after a preparatory meeting ahead of the planned session in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday evening, Israel Radio reported.Shortly before both sides were to submit replies to US Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet's proposals on a ceasefire, Tenet announced that the meeting would be delayed due to the two sides' need for further consultations. It was reported that both sides have accepted the truce plan in principle with some reservations in their responses, asking for adjustments. However, Tenet thought the two sides have wide gaps that are unable to be narrowed. Tenet reportedly made the postponement decision after consultations with Palestinian officials and he was also consulting with his advisors. According to Israeli media reports, the ceasefire plan, presented by Tenet to both sides in Friday's security meeting, urges the Palestinians to arrest activists of militant groups, stop mortar firing and other attacks against Jewish settlements, and stop incitement against Israeli in media. Meanwhile, the plan demands the Israeli army withdraw to their positions before the outbreak of the violence last September, stop initiating attacks against the Palestinians, and make maximum efforts to avoid damaging Palestinian properties. It calls on the two sides to resume security coordination on a weekly basis and joint patrol to end the violence, which has lasted for more than eight months and left over 570 people dead, most of them Palestinians. Earlier Sunday, Israel reportedly made "positive" response to the plan. It was reported in the evening that the Palestinians would also accept the plan as a basis for further discussions. Arafat Meets EU Delegation on Mideast SituationAfter the meeting, Arafat's media advisor Nabil Abu Rudeina told reporters that the Palestinian leader briefed the EU delegation on the sustained Israeli aggressions, violations and blockades on the Palestinian people in spite of the ceasefire announcement. Arafat asked Persson to put pressure on the Israeli government to meet its commitments and obligations and fully implement the recommendations of the Mitchell report as soon as possible to pave the way for restarting the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, Abu Rudeina said. Arafat also told the EU guests that for any security solution to be a success, it should be in line with a political solution that will finally put an end to the Israeli occupation, he added. The two side also probed the means to draft a timetable and define an international mechanism to put into effect the recommendations of the Mitchell commission with the participation of Russia and parties of the last October's Sharm el Sheikh Summit, he noted. The Arafat-Persson meeting took place as the Palestinian and Israeli security officials are to hold their second meeting under the auspice of of U.S Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet in Ramallah on Sunday, during which the two sides are to present their responses to a proposal made by Tenet on ways to cease fire and resume security co-operation on the basis of Mitchell report. Persson, whose party included EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and EU Middle East peace envoy Miguel Moratinos, is expected to meet later in the day with Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Perez on the same issue. The Mitchell report, released by an international inquiry commission led by former U.S. senator George Mitchell, calls for an immediate ceasefire, a freeze on Jewish settlement activities and tougher Palestinian efforts to check terrorism. EU Helps Observe Israeli-Palestinian Truce: SolanaThe European Union (EU) has sent a four-member panel to the region for observing the implementation of the fragile Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire following eight months of bloody violence, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana revealed here on Sunday.After meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Solana told a news conference that the aim for such an observer team is not to irritate anyone, but to help end the violence and pave the way for the resumption of the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. "There are four (EU) people now on the ground. And I think in the places where these people have been present, the situation as far as the ground is concerned...has been better," said Solana who was flanked by Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, the rotating EU president. The violence had lasted for more than eight months, during which over 570 had been killed, most of them Palestinians. Since Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat announced ceasefire on June 2, the situation on the ground has been relatively calm despite sporadic incidents. However, in a latest escalation of the violence, three Palestinian women were killed by an Israeli tank shell hitting their tent in the southern Gaza Strip Saturday night, with another four family members wounded. The observer team was part of EU's policies to boost its presence in the region along with the United State's efforts to return the two sides to the negotiation table. However, Israel obviously didn't welcome the efforts, saying that the observing efforts should not be going on without coordination with or approved by the Israeli government. Peres, admitting that EU is playing an important role in the mediation, sidestepped the issue at the news conference by saying,"If all of us coordinate in a responsible and positive manner, we will bring the Mideast back to the negotiation." Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, who met with Persson earlier Sunday, said that he was disappointed with the general stands of EU on the current violence. Meanwhile, the Palestinians, who repeatedly urged an international observing force in the region in the past, hail the EU observer team. In his meeting with Persson earlier Sunday in Ramallah, Arafat asserted, "Where the EU security teams are operating, things are on the right track." Regarding the next steps after the truce, Solana said Sunday afternoon that it was still too early to speak of an exact timetable for carrying out the recommendations in the Mitchell report published last month by an international fact-finding committee on the violence. The Mitchell report urged both sides to stop the violence, implement confidence-building measures after a cooling-off period, and resume peace talks thereafter. Israel claims that the implementation of the recommendations should be stage by stage. Sharon reiterated such stands in Sunday morning's cabinet meeting. However, the Palestinians insist that any implementation of the report should be in full. "For us it's extremely clear -- ceasefire, no violence, support for the Mitchell report and then of course presence in the region," Persson said in the joint news conference with Peres and Solana. |
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