WEST BANK: EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES STEP UP DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS AIMED AT BRINGING ISRAEL AND PALESTINIANS BACK TO NEGOTIATING TABLE

Record ID: 337994

  • Title: WEST BANK: EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES STEP UP DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS AIMED AT BRINGING ISRAEL AND PALESTINIANS BACK TO NEGOTIATING TABLE
  • Date: 1st September 2002
  • Summary: (W4) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (AUGUST 31, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. MV FRENCH CONSUL DEMIS PIETTON ARRIVING AT PALESTINIAN AUTHORITIES HEADQUARTERS (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. MV PIETTON MEETING PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT (3 SHOTS) 0.28 3. SLV EXTERIOR PALESTINIAN AUTHORITIES BUILDING IN; SLV ISRAELI SOLDIERS STANDING BEHIND ARMOURED VEHICLE; MV PALESTINIAN WOMEN WALKING BY; MV ISRAELI SOLDIERS POINTING GUN AT DETAINED PALESTINIAN MEN, SITTING ON GROUND WITH EYES COVERED (7 SHOTS) 1.14 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEPUTY US SECRETARY OF STATE DAVID SATTERFIELD "Our position on that has been made clear. Our position is clear, I don't have to repeat it, we are here to discuss how we can help to move Palestinians forward towards the vision President Bush outlined of two states Israel and Palestine living in piece and achieve it within the three year time that the President laid out. That is our focus and that's the focus of Palestinians". 1.49 5. MV SATTERFIELD GETTING IN CAR, LEAVING (2 SHOTS) 2.06 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th September 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVAE82BI5I9507CMU8G6VC371QZB
  • Story Text: Europe and United States have stepped up diplomatic
    efforts aimed at bringing Israel and Palestinians, locked in a
    23-month-old armed conflict, back to the negotiating table.

    Deputy US Secretary of State David Satterfield has held
    talks with Palestinian Minister of Interior Affairs Al-Yahya,
    while the French Consul Demis Pietton met Palestinian
    President Yasser Arafat at his office in Ramallah.

    The talks were aimed at easing tensions in the region,
    following another week of violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

    Palestinian and European officials met U.S. Deputy Assistant
    Secretary of State David Satterfield in the West Bank city of
    Ramallah to discuss reforms and efforts to restore regional
    calm.

    Satterfield, whose arrival in the Middle East in recent
    days is the first time in weeks a U.S. envoy has met Israeli
    and Palestinian officials, is holding a series of talks with
    both sides to restore calm shattered by 23 months of
    bloodshed.

    He met Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razzak
    al-Yahya, and French Consul Demis Pietton, and was due to meet
    Nabil Shaath, Palestinian Minister of Planning and
    International Co-operation, and Russian envoy Andrey Vdovin
    later in the day.

    We are here to discuss how we can help to move
    Palestinians forward towards the vision President Bush
    outlined of two states Israel and Palestine living in piece
    and achieve it within three year time said Satterfield after
    meeting Palestinian Interior minister Abdel Razzak al-Yahya.

    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was also scheduled to
    meet Vdovin and Pietton separately in the morning.

    Palestinian officials said Arafat was not scheduled to
    meet Satterfield. They did not give a reason, but Washington
    has since June publicly sidelined the Palestinian leader
    because of what they say is his failure to act against terror.

    The latest talks aim to strengthen a fragile security deal
    that Israelis and Palestinians struck last week, whereby
    Israel is to ease its military clampdown in the West Bank and
    Gaza in return for Palestinian security forces ensuring calm.

    As meetings went on, witnesses in Ramallah reported that
    Israeli troops arrested Hassan Yousef, a senior political
    leader of the militant Hamas group, and taken him blindfolded
    and with hands bound from a house near the city centre.

    Palestinians accuse Israel of abandoning the
    Gaza-Bethlehem First arrangement that has frayed as violence
    persists.

    The Israeli army has vacated the West Bank city of
    Bethlehem but says it will only leave six more cities and lift
    controls over civilians in Gaza when Palestinian police follow
    through on new commitments to curb militant groups.

    Tensions flared on Friday when Israeli troops and
    Palestinian gunmen exchanged fire during the day and evening
    in Jenin refugee camp, wounding three Israeli soldiers.

    In the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Friday, the militant
    al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades affiliated with Arafats Fatah
    movement, shot dead an 18-year-old girl, Rajah Ibrahim, for
    collaboration with Israel, sources close to the group said.

    At least 1,518 Palestinians and 589 Israelis have been
    killed since the uprising began after peace talks froze in
    September 2000.


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