Israel, Palestinians Agree to Stop ViolenceIsrael and the Palestinians reached early Thursday morning an understanding on security cooperation aimed at ending the violence that plagued the region since September, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's office said.Meanwhile, the Israeli cabinet held a meeting on the latest conflicts and decided not to take any overreactions, a spokesman of the office told Xinhua. The deal, which was reached at a meeting between Palestinian National Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation Shimon Peres in Gaza and is now under debate in Israeli parliament, is expected to be announced later in the day. The spokesman said that the two sides have agreed to put a halt to violence, and renew the bilateral security cooperation. He also said that Barak thanked Peres for his efforts in the Gaza meeting. He quoted Barak as expressing the hope that the measures agreed on Thursday will finally ended the conflicts. The agreement is within the framework of an Israel-Palestine peace accord reached in an emergency Middle East summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last month. Besides Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the summit was attended by US President Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the spokesman said. The Sharm el-Sheikh peace accord failed to put an end to violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces. So far at least 163 people have died, mostly Palestinians. |
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