Israel Agrees to Deployment of US Observers in Gaza Strip: RadioIsraeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has said that his country agrees to an Egyptian proposal that US observers be deployed in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported on Wednesday.The Rafah area bordering Egypt is one of the flashpoint in the clashes between Israeli troops and the Palestinians. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has voiced support for the idea, but President George W. Bush is uncertain about it, the radio said. Israel is awaiting a U.S. decision, it added. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher held a telephone conversation with Peres Wednesday afternoon, voicing concerns about the situation in the Palestinian territories following an Israeli attack on the Hamas office in the West Bank city of Nablus, killing eight Palestinians, including two children. However, Peres defended the move, saying that Israel was acting in "self-defense." After a five-hour meeting of the inner security cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to carry on the policy of " targeted liquidations" against Palestinian activists, suspected of having been involved in and planning attacks against Israeli targets. Sharon called on the international community to pressure the Palestinian National Authority to stop "terrorism" while emphasizing Israel's "commitment of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire and the Mitchell report." The Palestinians have been demanding the deployment of international observers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to monitor the ceasefire and protect them from Israeli aggressions. |
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