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Israel, U.S. Agree on "Long Series of Understandings"

(Ha'aretz) Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Wednesday after meeting in Washington with Secretary of State Colin Powell that the U.S. and Israel saw eye to eye on a "very, very long series of understandings," including: An unequivocal demand that the PA consolidate its security forces and combat terrorism. The need for Egypt to halt smuggling from the Sinai desert into the southern Gaza Strip. The disengagement plan should be kept out of the UN Security Council. The need for a U.S. veto, should the International Court of Justice rule the West Bank fence illegal, and the Security Council attempt to act on the ruling. Shalom asked Powell to try and convince the nations donating money to the PA to condition future financial aid on the cessation of Kassam rocket attacks against Israel, and on the political reform of the PA. Shalom said that the discussion of the outposts came at the end of lengthy talks in which broad agreement was evident between the two sides. The foreign minister told an Israel Radio interviewer that Powell's "remarks at the news conference came after your reporter repeatedly asked him the question, until he finally succeeded in prying out that answer."
2004-07-07 00:00:00
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