WASHINGTON - After weeks of violence, Middle East diplomacy moves back to the United States this week with separate visits by acting Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Ben-Ami is in Washington today for talks with United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He is also expected to see National Security Adviser Sandy Berger.
Erekat, who has led the Palestinian team in a succession of peace talks with Israel, is expected in Washington towards the end of the week, added the spokesman.
The United States has repeatedly appealed to both Israelis and Palestinians to stop the violence which broke out at the end of September and in which at least 154 people have been killed, the vast majority of them Palestinian.
Boucher said the talks with Ben-Ami and Erekat would be an opportunity to discuss steps to calm the violence, based on ceasefire commitments Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak made when they met US President Bill Clinton at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh last month.
Arafat and Barak agreed at the October 17 summit to end the violence and set up a committee to investigate how it started. Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi told a conference in Washington yesterday that the Palestinians were willing to cooperate with the peace process and that it was Israel imposing the violence on them.
"I have never seen such brutality," Ashrawi said. "People are shocked to see so much hatred against us."
"The violence was imposed and inflicted upon us ... Palestinians are not willing to die quietly." Asked about the prospects for resuming the peace process, Ashrawi said: "There certainly is no status quo ... to go back to. Because all hell has broken loose."
She said it was time to "take stock" of the entire peace process, saying its legitimacy was in question since no one agreement had been adhered to completely.
"It is in the interest of the US, and the long-term interest of Israel, if it wants to be accepted in the region, to stop victimising the Palestinians. We have rights ... "
- REUTERS
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