Dear Gaable,
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met (Tuesday) British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, as part of the efforts to bring an end to the
ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Also present at
the conference were representatives from 23 nations and six major
donor organizations, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a number of foreign
ministers from Europe and the Middle East.
Abbas, who was elected in January to replace Yasser Arafat, has
pledged to strive to restrain militants and to constitute the rule of
law, maintain by stable institutions in Palestine. Specifically, he
promised to track down those responsible for last week?s suicide
bombing in Tel Aviv, leaving five dead. In the document, Abbas
confirms steps that will be taken to prepare the Palestinians for
statehood. The document also re-asserts the international commitment
support for a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state that will
not be split by Israeli settlements. These would include reducing the
assortment of Palestinian security forces to just three groups, which
will act under centralized command. A US-led international team would
assist the reform in the security forces.
The EU and the World Bank also promised to help rebuild the
Palestinian economy. A donors' conference is planned for later this
month. Although this was not the goal of the current meeting, the
Palestinians already secured some $350m that would be donated by the
United States, and some $330m from the European Union), and set the
goal at $1.2 billion.
1. AFP, ?Palestinians, yearning for own state, win global support on
reforms?, Khaleej Times Online, 2 March 2005, <
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/March/middleeast_March33.xml§ion=middleeast>
2. AP, ?Abbas pledges Palestinian forces reform?, The Age, March 2,
2005, < http://www.theage.com.au/news/Breaking-News/Abbas-pledges-Palestinian-forces-reform/2005/03/02/1109700502882.html?oneclick=true>
3. John Daniszewski and Paul Richter, ?World Will Back Abbas, Blair
Asserts?, Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, March 2, 2005 <
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-palestinians2mar02,1,2071127.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=2&cset=true>
4. Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA), ?Abbas pleads for support from
international community?, 01 March 2005, Relief Web Website, <
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6A3DQJ?OpenDocument>
5. The Guardian, [Leader], ?A practical start?, March 2, 2005, <
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/comment/0,11538,1428199,00.html>
6. Haaretz, ?Checks for changes?, February 28, 2005, <
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/545730.html>
7. Anton La Guardia, ?A victory for people power in Lebanon?, The
Telegraph, 01/03/2005, <
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/02/wpal02.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/03/02/ixportal.html>
8. Ewen MacAskill, ?Abbas pleads for direct talks with Israel?, The
Guardian, March 2, 2005, <
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1428460,00.html>
9. Jonathan Milner, ?Abbas to reform security forces in return for
international aid?, The Scotsman, 2 March 2005, <
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=228922005>
10. Anne Penketh, ?Palestinian talks make steps towards peace?,
02.03.05, New Zealand Herald, <
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10113258>
11. Cam Simpson, ?World leaders back Palestinians' Abbas but want
action?, Chicago Tribune, as published in the Kansas City Star, Mar.
01, 2005, < http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/11025171.htm>
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I hope this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it. I searched Google
News for Abbas and London. |
