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Mubarak Calls for "Neutral" Observers to Monitor Ceasefire
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday called for deploying "neutral" observers to monitor the shaky Palestinian-Israeli ceasefire plan brokered by the United States.
"The right way to get rid of the vicious cycle in the Middle East is to deploy neutral observers to the region," said Mubarak in an interview with Egypt's Arabic-language Al-Musawar weekly, to be published on Friday.
"The mission of the observers will be to figure out the mistaken party that starts using violence at the points of friction," Mubarak said.
The U.S.-brokered truce went into effect on June 13, but sporadic shootings and confrontation between the Palestinians and Israelis have never stopped. The two sides are accusing each other of failing to stick to the agreed terms.
The Palestinians said that at least 40 Palestinians had been killed in Israel's liquidation campaign since the eruption of the bloodshed between the two sides last September.
The latest such attacks occurred on Sunday, when three Palestinians were killed by Israeli helicopter gunships in the West Bank.
"The Israelis are striking at the Palestinians, instead, they are unfairly blaming (the Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat for instigating violence. As the two sides exchange accusations, I think the only correct way out is to send neutral international observers to the region," Mubarak said.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell agreed that the presence of such observers would help shore up the truce between the two sides, said Mubarak, voicing the belief that the United States is " seriously" studying this issue.
During his last week's Mideast tour, 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.
Arafat said that the period of total calm had begun while the Israeli government said that it had the right to decide when the period will begin.
The Mitchell report, released by an international panel led by former U.S. senator George Mitchell in May, 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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