Israel Seeks to Undermine Peace Efforts: Arafat's AideAn aide of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Saturday accused Israel of trying to undermine international efforts in salvaging the stalled peace process and an agreement reached between Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Perez.Nabil Abu Redina, Arafat's media advisor, said in a statement that Israel was supposed to start on Friday implementing the Arafat-Peres agreement, under which Israel would pull out its tanks from and lift closure on the occupied Palestinian territories. Abu Redina blamed the Israeli government for aggravating the situation and accused the Israeli army of sabotaging the peace process "in a programed daily plan." He said, "The Israeli government, represented by its army and settlers, is escalating military operations since the meeting between Arafat and Peres, as over 16 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 others were injured, and scores of houses were destroyed by the Israeli army." The Palestinian official urged the United States to pressure the Israeli government to cease its atrocities against Palestinians as the U.S. is the only country that can influence Israel in this respect. |
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