ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU AND BRITISH PRIME MINISTER BLAIR SPEAK AFTER TALKS ON MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

Record ID: 399873

  • Title: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU AND BRITISH PRIME MINISTER BLAIR SPEAK AFTER TALKS ON MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
  • Date: 20th April 1998
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (APRIL 19, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV EXTERIOR SHOT OF PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE 0.05 3. SV MEDIA AND PRIME MINISTERS ENTERING PRESS CONFERENCE 0.24 3. MCU ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SAYING HE WAS READY TO GO "ANYWHERE" IN THE NEXT MONTH, POSSIBLY TO LONDON, FOR TALKS TO ADVANCE THE STALLED MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS (EN
  • Embargoed: 5th May 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA3I5039HSUX32726XDTNYA8KCD
  • Story Text: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday (April 19) he was ready to go "anywhere in the next month to go to any location, possibly to London, to try and advance the process." Netanyahu was speaking after more than two hours of talks with Blair, who met him during a tour of the Middle East to present European Union ideas on how to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians following more than a year of deadlock.

    "His offer to go within the next month and to have a serious process of negotiations is extremely important," Blair said of Netanyahu's announcement.

    He said he would be happy if such talks were in London but that Britain would not do anything to "cut across" efforts by the United States, the main mediator between the parties, to push negotiations forward.

    Peacemaking between the sides has now been stalled for more than a year over Jewish settlement building on occupied land and suicide bombings in Israel by Palestinian Moslem militants.

    Sharp differences over the terms of a long overdue Israeli troop pullback from more of the West Bank, mandated under interim peace deals, have deepened the crisis.

    The tensions were highlighted earlier on Sunday just a few hours before Blair's arrival with the killing in the West Bank of a Jewish settler by Palestinians in a dispute over land.

    Palestinian and Israeli officials said one Jewish settler was shot dead and another wounded in the incident at a small farm set up by settlers near the town of Hebron.

    A Palestinian was also shot and wounded in the attack, which settler leaders said was the fatal culmination of a long-running land dispute between Arab shepherds and the farmers.

    Blair received a warm welcome in Jerusalem in stark contrast to his Foreign Secretary Robin Cook who was snubbed by Netanyahu after he visited Har Homa, a new Jewish settlement being built on the outskirts of East Jerusalem.

    Blair, seeking to avoid such controversy, even dropped plans to stay overnight in Palestinian-ruled Gaza after he meets Arafat there on Monday (April 20) in case it offended Israel.


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