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Britain's Blair to Make Mideast Trip
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories Thursday for talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
An aide to Sharon said Monday that British officials had not informed Israel what message or proposals Blair would be bringing on the hastily arranged trip. But the aide said he assumed it would be a fresh attempt to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, with a view to bolstering U.S. efforts to add moderate Arab nations to the anti-terrorism coalition.
Blair met with Arafat in London on Oct. 15, and after the meeting said it was time to reinvigorate the peace process.
Britain has echoed U.S. calls for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian towns it entered following the Oct. 17 assassination of a Cabinet minister, whose killing was claimed by a radical Palestinian faction.
Late Sunday, Israeli forces withdrew from the West Bank towns of Bethlehem and Beit Jalla, and Israel said that if Palestinian security forces maintained order, it would withdraw troops from four other locations.
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