Israeli President Moshe Katsav called Tuesday for the suspension of peace talks with the Palestinians so long as terrorism continues, Israeli radio reported.
It quoted Katsav as saying "I call for the suspension of political negotiations so long as terrorism has not been eradicated. These negotiations are only justified if they are aimed at putting an end to the violence."
"We must first end the terrorism, and then the dialogue with the Palestinians can be taken up again with a view to a political agreement," he said.
Katsav, a member of the right-wing Likud whose leader Ariel Sharon is expected to beat Prime Minister Ehud Barak in elections next month, was speaking the day after a car-bomb attack north of Tel Aviv left 20 people injured.
Several thousand Jewish settlers gathered Tuesday in the settlement grouping of Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem in the West Bank, to protest against Barak's continuing the peace process with the Palestinians.
A parliamentary source said Barak told a foreign affairs and defense parliamentary commission Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority was not interested in restoring calm and that risks having serious repercussions on stability in the Middle East.
Barak admitted in a radio interview broadcast earlier Monday that chances of reaching a peace deal before the elections were slim, but he reacted angrily to advice from the government's top legal official, that as a caretaker prime minister he could not forge an agreement vital to Israel's future -- JERUSALEM (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
