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| Middle East |
| Palestinian Leadership Ready for Ceasefire |
| 2003-02-01 |
| In a state broadcast Saturday by the official WAFA news agency, the Palestinian leadership said it was ready to discuss a general ceasefire with the Israelis and immediately restart peace talks under the guidance of the Mideast Quartet committee. "The Palestinian leadership said it was ready to conclude a general ceasefire agreement in all the regions and restart negotiations as soon as possible under the aegis of the quartet," the leadership said after its meeting late Friday, January 31, in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Sharon was reelected. They're stuck with him, and they don't have many resources left — especially with Sammy on the way out... The Quartet, which comprises the U.S., E.U., Russia, and the U.N., is due to propose a peace plan expected to call for a Palestinian state by 2005 and guarantees of Israeli security. The leadership also said it was "surprised at the negative response of the Israeli government which has rejected a call for a re-launching of dialogue and prefers the road of military escalation." They're not negotiating with Yasser. He's trying to figure how to turn that around... Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who has been a virtual prisoner in Ramallah for 14 months, has twice this week expressed his willingness to meet with re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, but has been rebuffed. "Yasser who?" The leadership gave its backing to a dialogue between Palestinian factions last month in Cairo aimed at coordinating stances. Another meeting is set for the Egyptian capital on Tuesday, February 4. "We support this national dialogue and call for national unity which will allow us to reach our objectives, an end to the Israeli occupation, establish an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as capital and solve the (Palestinian) refugee question," it said. It urged the factions to "put aside their ideological considerations and ideas and put first the national interest." Hamas and Jihad won't adhere to any agreement, and al-Aqsa won't let them get more "credit" than they do, so it's pretty much a useless passage of gas, isn't it? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 Be happy to meet w/you after the EU completes its audit. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-01 14:41:40 |