Yasser Arafat, To meet with President Clinton in Washington
The Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, has accepted an invitation to meet President Bill Clinton in the United States to discuss the crisis in the Middle East peace process. A US Government spokesman said that the meeting would evaluate the implementation of the accord agreed with the Israelis at the Egyptian resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh. Meanwhile, two more Palestinians were killed in fresh clashes with Israeli soldiers in Bethlehem, putting further strain on a truce agreed yesterday, but not yet put into effect.
Earlier, a senior Israeli official played down a reported 24-hour deadline for ending the violence in the Palestinian territories. The official said that they have noted that orders and instructions have been given from Yasser Arafat, but that the results do not satisfy them at all. He was speaking after Yasser Arafat, and the former Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, forged a deal two days ago to end five weeks of fierce fighting in which at least 168 people, nearly all of whom were Palestinians, have been killed.
Previously, Israel said that the Palestinians had not succeeded in quelling weeks of bloodshed, despite intentions to implement an agreed truce. The Israeli Government said yesterday that it was giving the Palestinian authorities 24 hours to impose the ceasefire that was agreed between the two sides yesterday. Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, has said that he regretted that the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, had not publicly urged his people to curb violence under the truce. However, Mr Arafat had earlier condemned the attack, which had been claimed by a militant group, Islamic Jihad. There were more sporadic gun battles overnight throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
