Fragile truce
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FRESH from talks with President Hosni Mubarak yesterday, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat blamed Israel for delaying political negotiations through its continued aggression against the Palestinians. Meeting near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the two presidents reviewed the status of the US-sponsored security talks between the Palestinians and Israelis. Arafat told reporters that during security talks with the Israelis, differences of opinion arose because Israeli troops “continue to hold Palestinian villages and towns under siege, block borders, and settlers continue their monstrous acts against Palestinian civilians.” US Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke separately on the telephone to both Mubarak and Arafat on Tuesday. Reports from Washington and Yemen said that 15 arrests were made in the last two days. Eight of the arrests were connected to a plot to bomb the US Embassy in Sanaa and kill US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents probing the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden. The FBI pulled its team out of Yemen on Sunday citing threats to its investigators. Brent Sadler, CNN bureau chief in Beirut, said that he, two crew members and a driver were on a narrow track about 10 kilometres north of Hermel in the northern Beqaa Valley mountains when they were ambushed by 10 gunmen descending from two vehicles. They were held for 10 minutes before being ordered to leave the area with all their belongings except the cameras, AP reported. More : weekly.ahram.org.eg |