Israel's Sharon Hopes to Meet with Arafat SoonIsraeli new Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has sent a letter to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, expressing hope that they could meet soon and find a way to put an end to the violence, Sharon's office said on Friday."I believe that the only way to achieve peace is through dialog and direct negotiations on the basis of the written and signed agreements and obligations between us," Sharon said in the letter. "I hope that we can find a way of establishing personal contacts soon in order to put an end to the cycle of bloodshed, violence and incitement, and to renew the economic and security cooperation, while embarking on a return to genuine peace," Sharon added. Sharon and his government were sworn in Wednesday night and promised to resume peace making efforts to ease the situation after more than five months of Israeli-Palestinian bloody clashes, which have left more than 420 people dead, most of them Palestinians, and thousands more wounded. Arafat, in his congratulatory letter to Sharon on Wednesday night, reiterated the Palestinian demand to resume negotiations from where they left off. |
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