Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his government, unlike that of his predecessor Ehud Barak, would not negotiate with the Palestinians as long as violence continued, but said he recognized the suffering of the Palestinian people and wanted to lessen it, Haaretz quoted him as saying in an interview with CNN.
"My government will not negotiate under pressure," Sharon said Sunday. "Israel is a small country. The Jewish people have the right and the capability to defend themselves."
Sharon said he had spoken with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat about the conditions for resuming peace negotiations and Israel's desire "to ease the conditions of the Palestinians."
"We have to take all the steps necessary," he said.
"We have to find a way to improve their conditions of life."
"There is a saying that it's hard to be a Jew," Sharon added. "It's also hard to be a Palestinian, I know that."
When asked about Arafat's speech Saturday before the Palestinian Legislative Council, Sharon said he was disappointed that Arafat didn't call for a cessation of hostilities.
Sharon added, however, that he was even more disappointed by comments Arafat made in an interview to a Saudi paper, quoting Arafat as saying the Intifada would continue.
"He [Arafat] should make every effort to reach peace. He did not leave terror. In our region, terror is a strategic issue. Most of the wars in the Middle East started as a result of terror... Peace must provide full security to all Israeli citizens."
Meanwhile, US ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk called Sunday on Israelis and Palestinians to put an end to the violence which erupted five and half months ago, said AFP.
"You have to have a stabilization of the situation, a significant reduction in the conflict and violence that is occurring on a daily basis, and coordinate efforts against the terrorists so that you can begin to look at ways for the sight to reengage in the peace process", Indyk said at a meeting of US and Israeli businessmen in Tel Aviv.
"I think that US President George Bush and US Secretary (of state Colin) Powell are still in the formulation stage of the Middle East policy. They have been focusing their efforts and trying to develop a new policy towards Iraq, and they have also been waiting for the formation of a new government here in Israel because so much of what can be done here to end the conflict does depend on Israel", he added.
The Palestinian Authority issued Sunday a call for urgent UN intervention, saying Israel was intensifying a punishing blockade on the territories, after the Israeli army sent in tanks to enforce a tightening of the cordon around the West Bank town of Ramallah, reported Al-Jazeera satellite channel.
The PA said also it has received only 10 million of the one billion dollars promised to it at an emergency Arab summit convened in October to show support for the Palestinian uprising against Israel.
Palestinian ambassador to the Arab League, Mohammed Sobeih, told AFP that the Arab League method for distributing aid was "perfect for investment firms but not for a people in a state of war."
Sobeih's words came as Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo Sunday night recommended their leaders to abandon the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) as the manager of two funds set up by the last Arab summit in October, because it was too slow in distributing the aid, said the agency.
Arab League chief, Esmat Abdel Meguid, said Arab states donating money to the two funds, amounting to one billion dollars for the Palestinian, would instead give money directly and a new management mechanism would be worked out.
The foreign ministers made their recommendation to the next Arab summit, scheduled for March 27th in Amman, after discussing Sunday night how to improve implementation of decisions reached by Arab leaders at the October 21-22 summit in Cairo, which was convened three weeks after the violence started – Albawaba.com
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