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Jolie Rouge
02-07-2005, 01:08 PM
Sharon to Declare Truce, Israeli Official Says

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will announce a cease-fire at a summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday, an Israeli official said.

"We will both be making unilateral declarations," the government official said Monday after negotiators finalized details for the highest-level peace talks in almost four years. "The Palestinians are expected to announce an end to terrorism and violence. We will announce a halt to military operations on condition there is an end to terrorism and violence," the official said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=2&u=/nm/20050207/ts_nm/mideast_ceasefire_dc

Jolie Rouge
02-07-2005, 01:12 PM
Israel, Palestinians to announce ceasefire at Mideast summit
30 minutes ago

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli and Palestinian leaders will announce a ceasefire at their landmark summit in Egypt, aiming to end four years of violence and stoking hopes of a historic breakthrough in the peace process.

"The summit will be the occasion to announce a mutual and total ceasefire," Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said in Gaza City following two weeks of talks between the two sides in the lead-up to the summit.

A source in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said: "During the summit, Israel will announce an end to military operations while the Palestinians will declare a ceasefire.

"If the terrorist attacks and violence cease, there will be no need for us to launch operations, because calm responds to calm."

The announcements came as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice unveiled the the appointment of a new US security pointman for the Middle East and hailed what she called the "most promising moment for progress ... in recent years".


Tuesday's meeting between Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh will be the first between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in over four years.


The summit, to be hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, will mark "the resumption of official ties between Israel and the Palestinians," Erakat said.

Monday's announcements mean the summit should end with a joint declaration drawing a line under the Palestinian uprising which erupted in September 2000 and has claimed more than 4,700 lives.

Any such communique is also expected to include agreements on issues such as the transfer of security control in parts of the West Bank.

Encouraged by the moderate leadership of Abbas, who was elected on January 9 to succeed the late Yasser Arafat, Israel has taken steps to forge a rapprochement with the new leader after shunning his predecessor. But the two sides have not yet patched up some of their thorniest differences, such as Israel's controversial West Bank security fence, Israeli settlement activity and the closure of Palestinian groups in east Jerusalem. "The discussions (on all these matters) will take place during the summit and afterwards," Erakat said.

"The positive results that we have concluded at the end of two weeks of negotiations will be announced at the summit," Abbas said after talks with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, without specifically referring to a ceasefire.

Rice named a three-star general to help coordinate security efforts and announced planned White House summits for both sides as she held talks with Abbas in Ramallah in a renewed push for peace.

Rice said Washington had named Lieutenant General William Ward, deputy commander of the US Army Europe to help the Palestinians clamp down on attacks by militants, a key condition set by Israel for negotiations on an eventual Palestinian state. "The United States is determined to do all that we can to take advantage of this moment of opportunity in the weeks and months ahead," she said.

In another show of support for Abbas, Rice announced plans to fast-track more than 40 million dollars for the Palestinian Authority over the next 90 days to fund education, health care and other projects. She cited as immediate priorities the Palestinians' need to reform their security apparatus and take on the militants, and Israel's need to dismantle certain settlements and outposts, and take down checkpoints wherever possible. "We are very clear that the parties need to live up to their obligations," Rice told reporters before leaving the Middle East and resuming an eight-nation tour of Europe.

Rice also announced Sharon and Abbas would come to Washington for separate talks with President George W. Bush, who said in Washington he was "impressed" by the new Palestinian leader.

No dates were set for the visits, which will be held after an international conference on Palestinian reforms and statehood scheduled to be held in London on March 1.

However amid the growing optimism, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom warned that a ceasefire by Palestinian militant groups was "not enough" and demanded the Palestinian leadership move decisively to disarm them once and for all. "We must be clear, a ceasefire is not enough," he said. The Palestinians "must act to deny the terrorists their capacity to strike".

An official insisted after the ceasefire announcement that the Israeli military would preserve the right to "liquidate a human bomb" -- in other words thwart a suspected Palestinian suicide bomber on the verge of committing an attack.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050207/ts_afp/mideast_050207193721&e=1

Jolie Rouge
02-08-2005, 05:09 PM
2/8/2005
Israeli, Palestinian leaders announce cease-fire

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared Tuesday that their people would stop all military and violent attacks against each other, pledging to break a four-year cycle of bloodshed and get peace talks back on track.

With their national flags whipping in the wind, Sharon and Abbas met face-to-face at a Mideast summit, smiling broadly as they leaned across a long white table to shake hands. In one sign the talks went well, Egypt and Jordan announced afterward that they would return their ambassadors to Israel after a four-year absence — possibly within days.

But the Palestinian militant group Hamas immediately called the deal into question, saying it would not be bound by the cease-fire declarations and was waiting to see what Israel would do next.

As part of the deal, Israel will hand over control of five West Bank towns to the Palestinians within three weeks and immediately release 500 Palestinian prisoners.

Those agreements, and the sight of Abbas and Sharon shaking hands, were the clearest signs yet of momentum in the peace process after Yasser Arafat's death in November and Abbas' election to succeed him in January.

One Israeli official, Gideon Meir, said "there was a great atmosphere in the talks ... smiles and joking."

An invitation to both sides to meet separately with President Bush at the White House this spring added another round of momentum on the summit's eve. "We have agreed on halting all violent actions against Palestinians and Israelis wherever they are," Abbas declared in a statement made after the meetings, as he, Sharon, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II sat around a round table.

Sharon made a similar pledge. "Today, in my meeting with chairman Abbas, we agreed that all Palestinians will stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere, and, at the same time, Israel will cease all its military activity against all Palestinians everywhere," he said.

Abbas said he expected the cease-fire pledges to pave the way for resumption of talks on so-called "final status" issues such as borders, refugees and Jerusalem's status, all within the context of the Mideast "road map" to peace. Sharon said he also expected the deal Tuesday to set the stage for the implementation of the "road map."

Sharon also invited Abbas to visit him at his ranch in southern Israel and Abbas accepted, Meir said. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said the meeting would take place soon.

Sharon said he would like the next meeting between the two leaders to be in the West Bank town of Ramallah, according to an adviser, Raanan Gissin.

The White House commended the leaders on their commitment. "The cessation of violence and terrorism are important steps on the path to ending terrorism in the region and dismantling the terrorists' infrastructure," spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters on Air Force One as Bush flew to a speech in Detroit. "The United States will continue doing its part to help the parties move forward."

As part of the handover of five West Bank towns, Israeli and Palestinian security commanders are to meet Wednesday to prepare the handover of Jericho, the first West Bank town in the list of five, said Palestinian negotiator Hassan Abu Libdeh.

After the immediate release of 500 Palestinian prisoners, another 400 will be released at a later stage, he said.

Asked whether Hamas would continue its attacks against Israel after the summit, the group's representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, replied: "Our decision depends on the achievement of a substantial change (in Israel's position) to meet Palestinian demands and conditions."

Hamdan said for a truce to be successful, Israel must release Palestinian prisoners and make a clear commitment to "halt all kinds of aggression against the Palestinian people."

He contended those conditions were not met at the summit.

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, a key parliamentary committee narrowly approved a bill that would allow Sharon to carry out his planned pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank in the summer. The vote passed 10-9 on a subject that has split Sharon's party and angered his main constituency — settlers and their supporters.

Abbas said it was time for the Palestinian people to regain their freedom. "A new opportunity for peace is born today in the city of peace. Let's pledge to protect it," Abbas said, referring to the nickname of Sharm el-Sheik earned through past peace summits.

And Sharon, in what he said was a direct address to the Palestinian people, said: "I assure you that we have a genuine intention to respect your rights to live independently and in dignity. I have already said that Israel has no desire to continue to govern over you and control your fate."

Mubarak, who summoned the two leaders and has been a key mediator, said there also was fresh hope for Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations, which have been frozen since 2000.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Egypt and Jordan will return their ambassadors to Israel after a four-year absence, possibly within days. Egypt and Jordan lowered their diplomatic representation in Israel in late 2000 to protest what they saw as Israel's excessive use of force against Palestinians in the fighting that began in September that year.

Gissin said Israel would stop its controversial targeted killing operations against wanted Palestinians, as long as the Palestinians kept militants under control.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Rome that there seems to be a will for peace in the Middle East, and warned the Palestinians to move resolutely to control violence against Israel by its own people.

After the summit, Britain and Germany quickly pledged to do all they could to help both sides.

In London, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw noted there had been "rather too many false dawns" in the long-running conflict. German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer added from Berlin that "the renewed U.S. engagement is of central significance" to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Sharon's visit angered some Egyptians, and university students led by Islamic student groups demonstrated peacefully on their campuses Monday and Tuesday. At Cairo University, about 350 students burned Israeli and American flags and shouted against Sharon. One banner read: "Receiving Sharon is a shame on Egypt."

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the agreement also included the establishment of joint committees — one to determine criteria for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, and the other to oversee the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities on the West Bank.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-02-08-mideast_x.htm?csp=24&RM_Exclude=Juno


A look at agreements reached at the Mideast summit:

CEASE-FIRE: Abbas said Palestinians will halt all violence against Israelis. Sharon said Israel will stop military activity against all Palestinians. Israel would also stop its controversial targeted killing operations against wanted Palestinians, so long as the Palestinians keep militants under control. After Sharon's declaration of an end to military operations, the two sides would go back to operating as they did before the 2000 outbreak of fighting: In Palestinian-controlled areas, including most of Gaza and eventually most West Bank towns, the Israelis would coordinate with Palestinian security forces if they want to make an arrest.

PRISONERS: Israel will immediately release 500 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture, with 400 more to be freed later.

TRANSFER OF TOWNS: Israel will transfer security control of five West Bank towns to Palestinian forces within three weeks. Israeli and Palestinian security commanders will meet Wednesday to prepare the handover of Jericho, the first of the five towns.

COOPERATION: They agreed to establish joint committees — one to determine criteria for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, and the other to oversee gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

AMBASSADORS: Egypt and Jordan say they will return their ambassadors to Israel. The diplomats were recalled following the outbreak of violence in late 2000.

HOUSE CALLS: Abbas accepted an invitation to visit Sharon at his ranch in Israel. Sharon also said he would like the next meeting between the two leaders to be in the West Bank town of Ramallah..

Jolie Rouge
02-09-2005, 01:55 PM
Israel agrees to remove West Bank roadblocks
2/9/2005

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israel will lift travel restrictions on Palestinians in parts of the West Bank and abandon several major checkpoints as part of its withdrawal from five towns in the coming weeks, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday.

Free travel would be the most tangible improvement yet in the lives of ordinary Palestinians, sending a strong message that a cease-fire with Israel is beginning to pay off. Abbas made the announcement a day after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a Mideast summit in Egypt.

A senior Israeli military official confirmed that several roadblocks would be removed as part of the handover of security responsibility for the five towns to the Palestinians. The handover of Jericho, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Bethlehem and Ramallah will occur during the next three weeks, according to a timetable agreed to by Abbas and Sharon on Tuesday.

A second meeting between the two, set for Sharon's Sycamore Ranch in southern Israel, could take place "in the coming days or a week," said Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Sharon.

At the Egypt summit, Abbas and Sharon announced an end to hostilities, raising hopes of ending the violence and restarting long-stalled peace moves.

However, in continued violence, Palestinian gunmen attacked Israeli motorists in two shootings in the West Bank, causing no injuries, and a 22-year-old Palestinian walking near a Jewish settlement in the southern Gaza Strip was seriously wounded Wednesday by gunfire from the direction of the settlement.

The army said it had fired warning shots at four people who entered an unauthorized area near the Gush Katif bloc of settlements, but could not confirm hitting anyone.

Abbas has been working to prevent militant attacks on Israel and planned to head to Gaza on Wednesday evening to meet with leaders of armed groups. Sharon has responded with promises to release prisoners and pull out of the West Bank towns.

On his return to his West Bank office in Ramallah on Wednesday, Abbas said: "We agreed that they (Israelis) will pull out of five Palestinian ... cities and surrounding areas, and also on the removal of roadblocks, which will be manned by the Palestinian forces."

Israeli army checkpoints have devastated the Palestinian economy in recent years. They ring all West Bank towns, manned by soldiers checking documents of those seeking to pass.

Long lines form at the checkpoints and troops often use them to seal off towns entirely. Israel says it needs the checkpoints to prevent attacks.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia met with the West Bank security commanders and instructed them to be prepared to take responsibility for the five areas, participants said.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said Israel and the Palestinians would form four committees that would begin meeting next week to coordinate the moves.

At the summit, Egypt and Jordan announced they would return their ambassadors to Israel after a four-year absence. Gissin said the ambassadors would arrive within the next two weeks.

The Palestinians wanted the summit to signal the start of new peace moves, but Israeli officials say Sharon wants to carry out his withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank this summer before entering into negotiations on a final peace deal.

The pullout hit a bump when Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he would lead a campaign to put the plan to a national referendum, which could delay the pullout for months. However, Shalom would be hard-pressed to muster parliamentary support for a national vote.

Israeli commentators said Shalom posed the challenge to Sharon partly because he was upset about not being asked to attend the summit. Sharon opposes a referendum as a delaying tactic.

Following the summit, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced measures to alleviate conditions for Palestinians, including allowing 1,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to work in Israel and several hundred more to work at the Erez Industrial Zone between Israel and Gaza, defense officials said.

The number of West Bank Palestinians who will be allowed to work in Israel also will increase, but details were not released.

Before the violence erupted four years ago, tens of thousands of Palestinians worked in Israel. Now, just a few hundred have permits.

Additionally, 500 merchants will be allowed to enter Israel for business, and relatives will be allowed to visit Gaza residents incarcerated in Israeli prisons. Four hundred Palestinian employees of international organizations will be allowed to move freely between Gaza and the West Bank.

A roadblock cutting off Gaza's main north-south road will be opened 24 hours to public transport and Palestinian security vehicles, though not to private cars. Travel on the road had been restricted since the violence began.

Cease-fires have been declared before, but major changes in the region — chiefly, the death of longtime Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, and Sharon's Gaza pullout plan — have generated hopes that this one will stick.

"Maybe this time," read the headline in Wednesday's Maariv daily newspaper, emblazoned over a picture of Sharon and Abbas smiling and shaking hands.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-02-09-mideast-summit_x.htm?csp=24&RM_Exclude=Juno

Jolie Rouge
02-10-2005, 09:04 AM
Officials: Abbas Fires Gaza Commanders
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas fired top Gaza security commanders Thursday, Palestinian security officials said, hours after militants fired dozens of mortar shells and homemade rockets at Jewish settlements there.

The officials said on condition of anonymity that Abbas dismissed Brig. Gen. Abdel Razek Majaidie, chief of public security, and two other senior commanders. The officials gave no other details.

The report came after Abbas ordered security forces to stop militants from firing mortars and rockets at Jewish settlements in Gaza. Despite a cease-fire declared Tuesday, Hamas militants fired more than 30 mortars and rockets at settlements Thursday, causing no casualties or damage.

Abbas is committed to reforming the competing and overlapping Palestinian security forces. Last month, he ordered that more than 1,000 veteran officers be retired.



02/10/05 10:17

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-world-10-l1&flok=FF-APO-1107&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20050210%2F1017593485.htm&sc=1107&photoid=20050210JRL110

Jolie Rouge
02-16-2005, 03:29 PM
Israelis leaving Jericho
Wed Feb 16, 2005
By Ben Lynfield

JERICHO, WEST BANK - To cut costs over the past four years, Munzir Izhiman has dimmed the lobby of the empty luxury hotel he supervises. But a few days ago, he switched to full power.



"It looks like the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to appear," says Mr. Izhiman, referring to a planned Israeli army transfer of security control in Jericho that Palestinians and Israelis were seeking to finalize Tuesday. The grin of the neatly dressed manager of the Intercontinental Hotel reflects Palestinians' fragile hopes for normalcy and economic revival after last week's summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.


The transfer in Jericho, a city which has seen little conflict and few Israeli operations, will pave the way for staged withdrawals from four more West Bank towns, as agreed at the summit. But Palestinian officials stress that their reclaimed authority must be accompanied by a removal of army checkpoints that restrict Palestinian movement. Only then, they say, will Palestinians be able to substantially better their economic situation.


Israel, however, says that it must proceed cautiously on removing the checkpoints and that it will take time before it can trust the Palestinian forces to guarantee security. But Abbas is under political pressure to achieve rapid results, given the fragility of the cease-fire and July legislative elections in which the radical group Hamas is expected to participate.


The two sides Tuesday engaged in last-minute talks to resolve a dispute over control of an enclave near Jericho that is traversed by a major north-south road, and the removal of a checkpoint at the busiest entrance to Jericho, Palestinian security officials said. Israeli officials say that checkpoint will remain in place even after the transfer of authority.


"If there is quiet and there are no terrorist attacks and the Palestinian Authority assumes full responsibility, then we will continue to remove roadblocks, but this won't happen overnight, because there is still terrorist activity around," says Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon. "We must protect our citizens."


The extent and pace of checkpoint removal, first in Jericho and then in the other cities, will influence Abbas's ability to win support for ending occupation through negotiations. "If they don't lift the checkpoints, nothing will happen in this city. Everything will remain as it is," says Mr. Izhiman.


In 2003, Abbas arranged a cease-fire of Palestinian factions, but Israel, citing security concerns, did not substantially alter the checkpoint regime between Palestinian areas of the West Bank. Abbas was criticized by Palestinians for not bringing about change on the ground.


Occupancy at the Intercontinental fell to 3 percent from 90 percent after the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000. For much of that time, there were no guests. Management kept the hotel open, but dismissed three-quarters of the 220 staffers, Izhiman says. He now hopes to rehire some of them. Like other businessmen in Jericho, he envisions a significant boost if tourists and Palestinians can reach Jericho. "If a guest comes to the hotel, I have to buy provisions from a merchant to serve him," he says. "The merchant must buy merchandise from another city. And so things will start to move in the West Bank and the economic situation of the people will rise again."


Palestinians have a long way to go before they approach their pre-intifada economic situation, which is recalled with nostalgia but was far from prosperous. Unemployment has risen to 27 percent from 12 percent, according to a World Bank report in November, and the poverty rate rose to 48 percent from 20 percent. A mainstay - earnings from day laborers in Israel - vanished when Israel barred such employment on security grounds.


At the Oasis Casino, adjoining the hotel, the lights of the 285 slot machines were flashing Tuesday for the benefit of the journalists who descended on Jericho. "The big question for us is whether Israel will allow Israelis to come back here," says general manager Brett Anderson. A snack menu in Hebrew from four years ago is still posted. An average of 3,000 people visited the casino daily, and the figure rose to about 7,000 on Israeli holidays, says Mr. Anderson. The casino - owned by the Palestinian Authority and Austrian investors - employed 1,600 Palestinian workers making it the largest private employer of Palestinians in the West Bank.


The transfer will not immediately end the casino's losing streak. Mr. Gissin says Israelis will still be barred for security reasons.


Palestinian officials Tuesday prepared to require fugitives in Jericho, wanted by Israel, to sign a pledge that they will not attack Israeli targets. "I would like to be optimistic that there will be a new era," says Lt. Col. Akram Rajoub, director of Palestinian Preventive Security in Jericho. "But about the relationship with Israel I am cautious."


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/csm/20050216/ts_csm/ojericho&e=5

Jolie Rouge
03-22-2005, 11:21 AM
Israel completes handover of West Bank town
Gate blocking traffic into Tulkarem unlocked
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:49 a.m. ET March 22, 2005

TULKAREM, West Bank - Israel completed its handover of the West Bank town of Tulkarem to Palestinian security control Tuesday, ceremonially unlocking a gate that had blocked traffic between the town and main points in the West Bank. Israeli and Palestinian commanders shook hands at the gate, which is to be removed at a later point. The transfer of control to Palestinian forces, which began Monday night, has nudged along a conciliation process that has proceeded fitfully since leaders announced an end to four years of bloodshed.

The transfer could help Palestinian officials carry out a new directive restricting weapons in the hands of militants, who insist they’ll comply only if Israel withdraws from West Bank towns.

Transfer had stalled

Tulkarem, located in a sensitive position on the line between Israel and the West Bank, is the second of five West Bank towns where Palestinian security forces are to assume responsibility. Its transfer had stalled over whether to include nearby villages and roads.

Similar issues, pitting Israeli security concerns against Palestinian suspicions of Israeli foot-dragging, had delayed the handover of the first town, Jericho, and are liable to re-emerge in negotiations on the other three.

Since Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared an end to violence at a Feb. 8 summit in Egypt, violence has dropped considerably, but not all confidence-building measures — transfer of the towns and release of additional Palestinian prisoners — have been implemented.

Before the gate was unlocked Tuesday, Palestinians had to make a 4-mile loop to get onto the main road that connected Tulkarem with Nablus, the biggest city in the West Bank. Nablus, which is not slated for handover because Israel considers it a center of militant activity, is closed to vehicles, with entry only on foot.

The senior Israeli commander, Col. Tamir Hayman, told The Associated Press that Palestinian security forces in Tulkarem were authorized Monday evening to “act to ensure security, prevent terror and round up weapons.”

Masked gunmen fired weapons in the air Monday night as Palestinians celebrated the handover agreement. Palestinian police watched without taking action.

Security concerns

Israeli and Palestinian security officers hammered out a compromise over Tulkarem in two meetings on Monday. The main sticking point had been two villages north of Tulkarem, where Israel says the Islamic Jihad cell responsible for a Feb. 25 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv operates.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity said Israel was not satisfied with Palestinian actions against militants there but that contacts over the villages would continue with the intent of handing them over later. Israeli forces arrested four Islamic Jihad militants in the area early Monday, the military said.

Palestinians have said that they cannot be expected to enforce security measures in towns and villages where they are not in control.

Difficulties over Jericho and Tulkarem seemed to spell trouble ahead for the others. Next in line is Qalqiliya, which like Tulkarem is located on the line between Israel and the West Bank. Bethlehem, 3 miles from Jerusalem, is next, to be followed by Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government.

Israel could raise security concerns at each stage, dragging out the process. Israel points to more than four years of Palestinian attacks, including more than 100 suicide bombings, to explain its focus on security issues. Palestinians say the Israeli reservations amount to bad faith.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said Israel already agreed to hand over the five towns and the areas around them at the Feb. 8 summit. Speaking before the Tulkarem agreement, Qureia angrily accused Israel of “renegotiating issues that are already agreed upon.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7183904

schsa
03-22-2005, 11:53 AM
It helps that Arafat has died. I can only hope that peace will be achieved. They have been fighting far too long.

Jolie Rouge
03-22-2005, 12:34 PM
AMEN