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Fischer
Says Mideast Situation “Terrible”
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“We
see the suffering of the people,” Fischer said after his
meeting with Arafat (L).
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RAMALLAH,
West Bank, May 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - German Foreign
Minister Joschka Fischer described Thursday the situation in the
Middle East as "terrible" and called for renewed political
talks to tackle the 20-month crisis.
Speaking
after a meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat,
Fischer said: "The situation is terrible, we see the suffering of
the people, we hear the moaning of the families of the innocent
victims on both sides.
"This
situation must be changed. Diplomacy, negotiations and peace must have
the upper hand," he said, quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"We
have to open the door back to the negotiating table and a real peace
between Israel and the Palestinians," said Fischer, who earlier
held talks with hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Arafat
described the German Foreign Minister's visit as "very
important” and said it “was a very good opportunity to discuss
with him about all issues and in detail, to reach a real peace in the
Middle East and to return back to negotiating table."
"The
peace is not necessary only for us or the Israelis, but for the whole
region and whole world," said the Palestinian President.
Fischer
said he backed the three-track approach forwarded by U.S. Middle East
envoy William Burns, who spoke with Arafat earlier Thursday, May 30.
"There
has been too much suffering and too much death for both Palestinians
and Israelis," Burns told reporters after meeting Arafat in the
West Bank of city of Ramallah.
"It
is time to restore a sense of hope," said Burns, who arrived in
Israel earlier Thursday and was due to meet Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon either later in the day or Friday, May 31.
Burns's
visit was part of a new coordinated diplomatic effort with European
envoys aimed at halting a conflict which has claimed more than 2,000
lives, mostly Palestinians, since the outbreak of the second
Palestinian Intifada (Uprising) against Israeli occupation in
September 2000 after peace talks broke down.
The
United States, Israel's main ally, sees the continued Israeli
aggressions on the Palestinian people and the daily Israeli incursions
into autonomous Palestinian Territories as an obstacle to winning Arab
support for a possible military strike on 12-year-old-sanction-hit
Iraq.
Burns
said that in talks with Arafat he had presented U.S. President George
W. Bush's view that for Palestinians to achieve statehood in peaceful
coexistence with Israel they had to reform their institutions and stop
martyr operations against Israel.
Burns'
Middle East visit coincided with peace mediation by European Union
foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the German Foreign Minister.
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