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Peres-Arafat Talks End Without Result
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres here on Sunday held Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to a commitment to "seven days of zero violence" before embarking on further peace moves.
Ending their talks with no sign of concrete results, Peres said "I'm leaving Cairo with the sense that there is a hope to continue the Mitchell report," which forms the basis of a June 13 truce that has yet to take hold.
Peres said he reminded Arafat that US Secretary of State Colin Powell late last month proposed starting off with "seven days of zero violence" and that "you have accepted it" along with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"Now we have to keep the credibility," Peres said. "We cannot .... agree to something and say the next day it is impossible."
Ending violence includes stopping Palestinian incitement as well as improving conditions in the territories, said the top Israeli diplomat who shared the 1994 Nobel Peace prize with Arafat for the Oslo peace accords.
"Our position is that we don't negotiate under fire. But we talked about how to stop fire," he said.
Arafat, who has previously said the seven days were completed and it was time to move on to the next stage of the Mitchell process, left the meeting in Cairo without making any comment to the press.
During his tour to the region, Powell forged an outline to implement Middle East peace steps that calls for seven violence-free days, a six-week cooling off period and then several months of confidence building measures.
But Powell's timeline is intentionally vague on several points and is largely dependent upon Sharon's interpretation of Arafat's behaviour, leaving numerous pitfalls.
Peres' remarks appeared to re-emphasise the burden Israel has put on Arafat to end 10 months of violence and dash Egyptian hopes that Israel might show "reciprocity" in leading the way out of the morass.
However, Peres said "war is not an option" and that Israel would continue to negotiate with Arafat after his meetings earlier with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.
Analysts say Egypt and Arab countries are worried that Israel might take tougher military action that could even spark a regional war.
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