WEST BANK: U.S. PEACE ENVOY DENNIS ROSS URGES ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS TO SPEED UP PEACE PROCESS.

Record ID: 350293

  • Title: WEST BANK: U.S. PEACE ENVOY DENNIS ROSS URGES ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS TO SPEED UP PEACE PROCESS.
  • Date: 19th October 1997
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (OCTOBER 19, 1997)(RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: EXTERIOR VIEW OF PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT'S OFFICE/ UNITED STATES (U.S) ENVOY DENNIS ROSS ARRIVES 0.32 2 MV/PAN/MCU: ROSS SEATED WITH ARAFAT (4 SHOTS) 1.00 3. CU: ROSS SAYING THERE IS A STRONG COMMITTMENT TO MOVE FORWARD, NEED TO INTENSIFY WORK OF THE JOINT
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK AND JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVAF5GLYTUAVFH7EVX62INDUTHZX
  • Story Text: INTRO: United States (U.S.) peace enovy Dennis Ross is leaning on Israel and the Palestinians to pick up the pace in talks on fulfilling their past peace commitments. United States (U.S.) peace envoy Dennis Ross brought top Israeli and Palestinian officials together on Monday (October 20) in his ongoing effort to get faltering Middle East negotiations off the ground.

    Ross, Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy and top Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) negotiator Mahmoud Abbas, who is also known as Abu Mazen, met at a Jerusalem hotel to discuss some of the outstanding issues to be negotiated between the two sides.

    The international effort continued on Monday whenPalestinian President Yasser Arafat met with Migal Morantinos, the European Union envoy to the Middle East.

    Ross had already met with Arafat on Sunday (October 20) and said that there was a need to instensify the work of the joint Palestinian/Israeli committees.

    A top Palestian Liberation Organisation (PLO) negotiator complained on Sunday that 10 days of committee talks had achieved "absolutely nothing" an assessment dismissed by Israel's foriegn ministry as "pessimistic" and "inaccurate".

    Staying aloof from the Israeli-PLO sniping, Ross said the sides were aware they had difficulties in front of them but had a "very strong determination" to overcome them.

    Meanwhile members of the righ wing Israeli movement "Temple Mount Faithful" who have vowed to erect the new Jewish temple in Jerusalem, placed a 4-ton corner stone which they said will hopefuly serve as the fountation for the new temple. The location of the cornerstone is near the Al-Aqsa mosque.

    The last Jewish temple was ruined in 70 AD by the Romans. The only remnant of the ancient temple is the Wailing Wall which is belived to have been the temple's retaining wall.

    The Wailing Wall is regarded as the holiest of all Jewish sites and on Monday hundreds of Jewish priests (Cohanim), dressed in white, joined in prayer at the wall for the traditional Priestly Blessing for the Jewish holiday of Soccot.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register