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Middle East
Peres says "fair chance" of a cease-fire
2002-03-24
  • Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Sunday there was a "fair chance" of a Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire ahead of U.S.-brokered talks aimed at clinching a truce in the Middle East. "I think there is still a fair chance and today may be the deciding day because of the meeting and I hope we shall reach an agreement," he told reporters.

    Little progress was made in talks Friday to implement a U.S.-brokered cease-fire plan. U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni will resume talks with security officials from both sides Sunday. If a cease-fire is reached, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would be allowed to attend a key Arab summit in Beirut from March 27-28, Peres said. That summit will discuss a broad Saudi Middle East peace plan.
    Normally, I'd say the chances were somewhere between slim and none, but Yasser wants to go to Beirut so he can hob-nob, feel important, and try to torpedo any trends that might lead to something substantive from the meeting. So that pushes the chances closer to slim than none, which might be what Peres is talking about. Any cease-fire, of course, won't be adhered to, so I'm not even sure what all the fuss is about.
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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