Posted on 11/27/2001 12:26:13 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Ariel Sharon meets the American emissary after the withdrawal of Jénine
Tuesday November 27, 2001 - 8h46 GMTJERUSALEM, Nov. 27 (AFP) - Israeli the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met Tuesday morning two American emissary a few hours after the Israeli withdrawal of Jénine, the last of the six Palestinian cities which remained partially re-occupied.
Mr. Sharon received with the Presidency of the Council in Jerusalem the General with the retirement Anthony Zinni and the Secretary of State associates Williams Burns, the two emissary charged to negotiate an agreement of israélo-Palestinian cease-fire for a resumption of negotiations of peace.
He then accompanied his hosts for a round in the helicopter, in particular along the "green line", the border between the West Bank and Israel, according to an official source.
This overflight is intended to illustrate the sedentary problems of Israel, because of the narrowness of the coastal band, the Tel-Aviv metropolis being distant from about fifteen kilometers hardly the West Bank, according to the official source.
Mr. Sharon had carried out a similar overflight in 1998 with the American president George W Bush, whereas this last was a governor of Texas and Mr. Sharon, Foreign Minister.
The Israeli army completed Tuesday before the paddle its withdrawal of the autonomous city of Jénine in the West Bank, partially re-occupied after the assassination on October 17 of an Israeli minister.
The army completed towards 05H00 local (03H00 GMT) without incident the withdrawal of its forces, but continuous to encircle Jénine, indicated a military spokesman.
"Our forces were spread on positions from where they will be able to continue to protect safety from the Israelis", according to him.
These last months, several Palestinian kamikazes, coming from the area of Jénine, perpetrated attacks in Israel.
The withdrawal of the city was confirmed with the AFP by persons in charge for Palestinian safety, who specified that this withdrawal related to a few units of armoured tanks insulated which had discussed a hill in the southern part of the city.
The other forces had left the locality a few days ago, according to these sources which announced that the Israeli army trenched all around the town of Jénine to reinforce its blockade.
Jénine was the last of the six towns of the West Bank which remained partially re-occupied afterwards incursions carried out by the Israeli army, the shortly after the assassination of the Israeli Minister for Tourism Rehavam Zeevi by a Palestinian radical group, the FPLP.
The withdrawal was decided Monday by the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Minister for Defense Binyamin Ben Eliezer, after being deferred several times, according to the radio operator soldier Israeli.
It intervenes little before the visit of Mr. Sharon in the United States the next week. Washington had claimed a fold of all the Palestinian zones re-occupied after October 17.
MISTERS Zinni and Burns were to meet in the afternoon the Israeli Minister for the Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres and in the evening the Minister for Defense Binyamin Ben Eliezer. Wednesday, they must meet Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.
The spokesman of the Richard Boucher, State Department, indicated Monday evening that one did not have to expect "immediate results" of the mission of the two emissary.
The latter arrived Monday to Israel where they met persons in charge for the services of information and safety Israelis. Their arrival was preceded by a renewal by violences.
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