Arafat Arrives in Egypt for Talks with Mubarak, Saudi Crown PrincePalestinian leader Yasser Arafat arrived Monday in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of Alexandria to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz on the Mideast situation.Arafat is expected to hold separate talks with Mubarak and Aziz late Monday after a meeting between Mubarak and the Saudi heir, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. The talks between the Arab leaders will deal primarily with the latest developments in the occupied Palestinians territories, as well as the regional situation following Sunday's Israeli air raids on a Syrian radar station in Lebanon, the news agency said. Although a Palestinian-Israeli ceasefire brokered by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet went into effect on June 13, sporadic shootings and confrontations between the Palestinians and Israelis have since never stopped. In another escalation of the regional situation, Israeli warplanes on Sunday attacked a Syrian radar station in the strategic Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, where Syrian troops are deployed, injuring two Syrian soldiers and one Lebanese. The Saudi crown prince arrived in Egypt Monday on a three-day official visit after a trip to France, where he had met U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. During his last week's Mideast tour, which included Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian self-rule areas and Jordan, Powell announced that the Palestinians and Israelis agreed to a seven- day "completely quiet period" before a six-week "cooling-off" period as stipulated by the Mitchell report. However, Arafat said that the period of total calm has begun while the Israeli government said that it has the right to decide when the period will begin. The Mitchell report, released in May by an international panel led by former U.S. senator George Mitchell, urges both sides to break the cycle of violence, carry out confidence-building measures after a cooling-off period, and finally resume their peace talks. |
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