The vicious circle of violence increases the bloody toll of this conflict every day and makes the chance of a just and lasting peace in the region increasingly remote. The Political Affairs Committee is seriously concerned by this deadly escalation of violence and urges the Israeli Government to gauge the full extent of its responsibility to both its own people and the international community, including the Council of Europe, where the Knesset has observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly. Violence must cease at once on both sides and give way to a political process, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and in the context of the efforts of the international community, in particular the Tenet work plan and Mitchell Report recommendations. The United States, the European Union and the Russian Federation must double the efforts aiming at bringing the parties in conflict to the table of negotiations.
Trois heures d’entretiens jugés « utiles et constructifs » par le chef de la diplomatie américaine, qui n’a toutefois obtenu aucune avancée vers un cessez-le-feu. Yasser Arafat accepte la proposition d’Ariel Sharon d’organiser une conférence régionale de paix sous l’égide des Etats-Unis, avec la participation de l’Etat hébreu, de pays arabes et de représentants palestiniens, à condition que les troupes israéliennes se retirent immédiatement des territoires palestiniens.