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U.S.-Led Mission "Rules Nothing Out" In Probe Of Mideast Violence
by Michel Sailhan
CAIRO (AFP) - A U.S.-led fact-finding mission pledged Tuesday to "rule nothing out" in probing the causes of nearly 11 weeks of bloodshed that has derailed Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said here that he and the four other panel members sought to "rebuild the trust" needed to restart the talks, adding there was a "small" chance they could resume in a few weeks.
Panel leader George Mitchell promised that the mission, the long-awaited fruit of pledges for a truce Israel and the Palestinians made at an October 17th summit in Egypt, would issue a "full and impartial" final report.
Israel has expressed fears the probe would be biased while the Palestinians have complained its scope is too limited.
Mitchell, a former U.S. senator and a mediator in Northern Ireland, said the purpose of his first visit to Israel and Gaza City on Monday was simply to sound out Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
But the international mission will make further visits to the region to obtain "information from the widest possible range of sources," Mitchell said after briefing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak here on the visit.
He added that the panel will "do whatever it takes, is necessary in our judgment, to complete a full and fair and impartial report."
But Mitchell insisted the panel "certainly will go beyond documents" and that press reports to the contrary were "incorrect."
Israeli foreign ministry director general Alon Liel said Sunday that Israel understood "the largest part of the panel's work will be based on written documents" and that it would not carry out an independent investigation.
Mitchell said no decision had been taken on "how we will proceed with respect to interviews" and on other issues, "but we rule nothing out."
Solana, the senior European Union envoy and panel member, said separately that there was a "small window of opportunity" to restart the negotiations and that the mission would work toward rebuilding confidence.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Amr Mussa of Egypt, a Palestinian ally which tries to bridge the gap with Israel, said that he did "not rule out" the possibility of restarting the negotiations.
However, Mussa injected a note of caution by saying such a resumption "will depend on measures to reestablish confidence" between Israelis and Palestinians.
When the mission visited Israel and Gaza City on Sunday, Arafat described it as "important to push forward the peace process and protect the peace process."
A Barak spokesman said after the three-hour meeting that the prime minister had assured the committee of Israel's "full cooperation and maximum assistance."
Israel long opposed the fact-finding committee, fearing the body would be biased from the start, but the government said Sunday it was reassured after some 10 days of informal talks with panel members.
Palestinians complain that the committee will not go far enough.
Some 322 people have been killed, most of them Palestinian, since the violence exploded in late September after a provocative visit to an Islamic holy site in Jerusalem by Israel's hardline opposition leader Ariel Sharon.
Gulf Arab newspapers, meanwhile, poured scorn on the U.S.-led commission, saying it would only serve to protect the Jewish state from blame for the violence.
Other members of the panel are former Turkish president Suleyman Demirel, Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland and Warren Rudman, another former U.S. senator.
The mission later arrived in Amman for talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II and other officials.
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