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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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 Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:09 pm Israel, Palestinians to Declare Truce |
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| Quote: | JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli and Palestinian leaders will declare a formal end to more than four years of fighting at Tuesday's Mideast summit, both sides said Monday. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators finalized the agreement during last-minute preparations Monday.
``The most important thing at the summit will be a mutual declaration of cessation of violence against each other,'' said Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator.
Erekat said the agreement also includes the establishment of joint committees to determine criteria for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, and to oversee the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities on the West Bank.
An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the cease-fire agreement, adding that the deal would also include an end to Palestinian incitement.
02/07/05 12:31
� Copyright The Associated Press.
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Last edited by Theresa on Fri Feb 25, 2005 12:29 am; edited 1 time in total
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Pah-Wraith
Sheikh
Joined: 30 Nov 2001
Posts: 6012
Location: Londonistan.
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| Mon Feb 07, 2005 4:09 pm |
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I hope so much that the feud in Falesteen/Israel ends soon, but I am still very sceptical, I know that there will always be people on both sides who don't wish to see it come.
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Ziona
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 22 Aug 2001
Posts: 12821
Location: Michigan... for now
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| Mon Feb 07, 2005 4:11 pm |
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It would be so nice to see this holy war ended, but, like Pah-Wraith, I am skeptical. After all these years, and they're suddenly just going to end it?
Idk
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Founder
Dominion Leader
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Posts: 12755
Location: Gamma Quadrant
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| Mon Feb 07, 2005 4:57 pm |
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This would be great if this happened. Isreal and Palestine can live in peace. Perhaps now we can help the people of Palestine rebuild.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Mon Feb 07, 2005 5:14 pm |
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| Founder wrote: | | This would be great if this happened. Isreal and Palestine can live in peace. Perhaps now we can help the people of Palestine rebuild. |
Yes. A formal truce. This is good news.
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Mon Feb 07, 2005 5:25 pm |
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| Quote: | By SALAH NASRAWI
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) - Israeli and Palestinian leaders said they will declare a formal end to more than four years of fighting during a summit Tuesday in this Egyptian resort - a breakthrough in Mideast peacemaking that comes after both sides also accepted invitations to meet separately with President Bush at the White House.
The cease-fire deal, finalized during last-minute preparations Monday on the eve of the summit, was the clearest indication yet of momentum following Yasser Arafat's death, the election of a new Palestinian leader and a signal from the White House that it plans a renewed push for peace.
``The most important thing at the summit will be a mutual declaration of cessation of violence against each other,'' said Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator.
Erekat said the agreement also includes the establishment of joint committees - one to determine criteria for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, and the other to oversee the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities on the West Bank.
An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the cease-fire agreement and said it would also include an end to Palestinian incitement to violence, such as official Palestinian TV and radio broadcasts that glorify suicide bombers and other attackers.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will attend the summit Tuesday in this Egyptian beach resort, along with Jordan's King Abdullah II and the host, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. It will be the first meeting of the Israeli and Palestinian leaders since Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, succeeded Arafat after his death on Nov. 11.
In Washington, Bush said the background for peace talks improved with Abbas' election in January. His invitations to both sides to separate talks this spring seemed a clear signal he plans a stepped-up peacemaking effort in his second term.
``What you're watching is a process unfolding where people are becoming more trustworthy,'' the president said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ending two days of pre-summit talks in Israel and the West Bank, called it ``a time of hope, a time we can hope for a better day for the Palestinian and Israeli people both.''
Bush - who had refused to meet with Arafat - said he was impressed by Abbas' commitment to fighting terror.
``Prime Minister Abbas comes to the table with a mandate from a lot of Palestinians,'' Bush told reporters at the end of a Cabinet meeting, unintentionally misstating the Palestinian leader's job title. ``He has been through an election. He has been endorsed by the Palestinian people.''
Abbas, who is president of the Palestinian Authority, said he hoped the summit would open the way for further Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at implementing the internationally backed ``road map'' to peace.
``Two weeks ago, we announced a cease-fire. Since then, we have been in extensive talks with the Israeli side over many issues. If you wait for tomorrow, you will hear about the results,'' Abbas said after meeting with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Significant steps have been taken since Arafat's death to reconcile Israel's primary concern of security with Arabs' main objective of getting the ``road map'' on the fast track.
Abbas has deployed police to keep the peace in Gaza, ordered arrests of some operatives and appears to have won pledges from militants to halt attacks on Israel.
However, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip said the radical Islamic group, which has been responsible for hundreds of attacks against Israelis during the past four years, would evaluate the summit before committing itself to halting its campaign of violence.
``We agreed before with Mahmoud Abbas that if he succeeds to achieve our national goals he should come back to the Palestinian factions to discuss the issue and after that we will decide our stand,'' Mahmoud Zahar said.
On the Israeli side, the government is pledging to free 900 of the about 8,000 Palestinian prisoners it has in custody and gradually pull out of five Palestinian towns on the West Bank.
And in a humanitarian gesture ahead of the summit, Israel reopened a key Gaza cargo crossing Monday that had been closed after a Jan. 13 attack killed six Israeli civilians.
Mubarak, the lead Arab mediator of the conflict, has backed Israel's plan to pull out from Gaza by offering to police the porous border with Egypt, has reversed his public view of Sharon to call him a man capable of making peace and has signed a key trade agreement with Israel.
In the past, U.S. intervention has been necessary to secure any major advances, but Rice said it would be good for regional leaders to push forward on their own. Neither she nor any other high-ranking U.S. official will attend the summit.
Rice met with Sharon on Sunday, and told the Israelis they must make hard decisions for peace.
After her meeting Monday with Abbas, Rice said she would appoint a ``security coordinator'' who would supervise reform of the Palestinian security forces.
She also said Washington would send more than $40 million in immediate aid to the Palestinians to create jobs and rebuild infrastructure. U.S. monitors would be dispatched to the region, she said, promising that ``we will be very active.''
The moves have created a new sense of optimism that a Mideast peace process largely deadlocked since September 2000 can get a fresh start.
``There is an opportunity. If you don't seize it, it will be lost,'' said Wahid Abdel Meguid, a political analyst with the Al Ahram Center for Strategic Studies in Cairo.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, speaking Sunday during a visit to Damascus, said that if the summit generates enough goodwill, he hopes to see movement on the Syrian-Israeli front. Those peace talks stalled in January 2000.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the prisoner issue is one of the most emotionally charged issues expected to come up at the summit.
Securing a larger release would boost Abbas in his efforts to persuade militant factions to end the armed Palestinian uprising. Israel has balked at releasing prisoners involved in deadly attacks, but then signaled some flexibility when it agreed to set up a joint committee to review the possible release of inmates with ``blood on their hands.''
Tied to that is the question of Palestinian fugitives wanted by Israel for attacks against Israelis. The Palestinians expect to receive a list of names of fugitives - about 350 people - who would be given conditional amnesty, provided they hand over their weapons and agree not to leave their hometowns.
Associated Press writers Mark Lavie and Peter Enav in Jerusalem and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah contributed to this report.
02/07/05 16:18
� Copyright The Associated Press.
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In this picture released by the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, left, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, are seen during a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday Feb. 7, 2005. Rice on Monday wound up two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials on her first visit to the region since taking office and promised active U.S. involvement in Mideast peace-making, saying Washington would dispatch a high-level "security coordinator" to the region and send more than US$40 million (euro 31 million) in immediate aid to the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Palestinian Authority/Omar Rashidi)
(UPDATED ARTICLE)
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Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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Solitary Poet
Captain
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 805
Location: Lancaster (Dallas), Texas
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| Mon Feb 07, 2005 7:09 pm |
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Have you ever heard the one about the Palestinian who Moses� underpants? Or may be it was the other way around? Any way, it�s how this whole thing originally started.
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�STARGATE: Highlander�, Is Methos an Egyptian god?
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WeAz
Commodore
Joined: 03 Apr 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Where you aren't
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| Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:30 pm |
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this is great. these two peoples have been fighting and feuding for as long as i have been alive.
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Defiant
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 04 Jul 2001
Posts: 15946
Location: Oregon City, OR
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| Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:33 pm |
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I remain skeptical. Ill believe it when I see it. There is just too much bad blood on both sides for such a quick resolution.
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Jeff Miller
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 22 Nov 2001
Posts: 23947
Location: Mental Ward for the Mentaly Unstable 6th floor, Saint John's 1615 Delaware Longview Washington 98632
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| Mon Feb 07, 2005 11:46 pm |
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I say congrats good going 
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Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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| Tue Feb 08, 2005 4:35 am |
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I believe the governments will try and resolve things, but there is too much for them to be able to be successful in this. Its the reason I believed Arrafat had to go, he wasn't interested in peace, although he made it out that he did.
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:09 pm |
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| Quote: | Mideast Leaders Declare Halt to Violence
By LARA SUKHTIAN
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared Tuesday that their people would stop all military and violent attacks against each other, pledging to break a four-year cycle of bloodshed and get peace talks back on track.
With the flags of their countries whipping in the wind, Sharon and Abbas met face-to-face at a Mideast summit, smiling broadly as they leaned across a long white table to shake hands. In one sign the talks went well, Egypt and Jordan announced afterward that they would return their ambassadors to Israel after a four-year absence - possibly within days.
But the Palestinian militant group Hamas immediately called the deal into question, saying it would not be bound by the cease-fire declarations and was waiting to see what Israel would do next.
Yet the cease-fire deal - and the sight of Abbas and Sharon shaking hands - were the clearest signs yet of momentum in the peace process after Yasser Arafat's death in November and Abbas' election to succeed him in January. One Israeli official, Gideon Meir, said ``there was a great atmosphere in the talks ... smiles and joking.''
An invitation to both sides to meet separately with President Bush at the White House this spring added another round of momentum on the summit's eve.
``We have agreed on halting all violent actions against Palestinians and Israelis wherever they are,'' Abbas declared in a statement made after the meetings, as he, Sharon, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II sat around a round table.
Sharon made a similar pledge.
``Today, in my meeting with chairman Abbas, we agreed that all Palestinians will stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere, and, at the same time, Israel will cease all its military activity against all Palestinians everywhere,'' he said.
Abbas said he expected the cease-fire pledges to pave the way for resumption of talks on so-called ``final status'' issues such as borders, refugees and Jerusalem's status, all within the context of the Mideast ``road map'' to peace. Sharon said he also expected the deal Tuesday to set the stage for the implementation of the ``road map.''
In signs the two sides are working quickly, Palestinian negotiator Hassan Abu Libdeh said the leaders agreed that 500 Palestinian prisoners would be freed immediately by Israel, to be followed by 400 more at a later stage.
Sharon also invited Abbas to visit him at his ranch in southern Israel and Abbas accepted, Meir said. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said the meeting would take place soon.
Sharon said he would like the next meeting between the two leaders to be in the West Bank town of Ramallah, according to an adviser, Raanan Gissin.
In another sign of rapid movement, Israeli troops will complete their handover of five West Bank towns to Palestinian control within three weeks, a senior Palestinian official said Tuesday, for the first time releasing a timetable.
Israeli and Palestinian security commanders are to meet Wednesday to prepare the handover of Jericho, the first West Bank town in the list of five. The handover is to be completed in three weeks, Abu Libdeh said.
Asked whether Hamas would continue its attacks against Israel after the summit, the group's representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, replied: ``Our decision depends on the achievement of a substantial change (in Israel's position) to meet Palestinian demands and conditions.''
Hamdan said in order for a truce to be successful, Israel must release Palestinian prisoners and make a clear commitment to ``halt all kinds of aggression against the Palestinian people.''
He contended those conditions were not met at the summit.
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, a key parliamentary committee narrowly approved a bill that would allow Sharon to carry out his planned pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank in the summer. The vote passed 10-9 on a subject that has split Sharon's party and angered his main constituency - settlers and their supporters.
Abbas said it was time for the Palestinian people to regain their freedom.
``A new opportunity for peace is born today in the city of peace. Let's pledge to protect it,'' Abbas said, referring to the nickname of Sharm el-Sheik earned through past peace summits.
And Sharon, in what he said was a direct address to the Palestinian people, said: ``I assure you that we have a genuine intention to respect your rights to live independently and in dignity. I have already said that Israel has no desire to continue to govern over you and control your fate.''
Mubarak, who summoned the two leaders and has been a key mediator, said there also was fresh hope for Syrian-Lebanese peace negotiations, which have been frozen since 2000.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Egypt and Jordan will return their ambassadors to Israel after a four-year absence, possibly within days. Egypt and Jordan lowered their diplomatic representation in Israel in late 2000 to protest what they saw as Israel's excessive use of force against Palestinians in the fighting that began in September that year.
Gissin said that as part of Israel's halting of military operations, it would stop its controversial targeted killing operations against wanted Palestinians, as long as the Palestinians kept militants under control.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking Tuesday during a visit to Rome, said there seems to be a will for peace in the Middle East, and warned the Palestinians to move resolutely to control violence against Israel by its own people.
Sharon's visit angered some Egyptians, and university students led by Islamic student groups demonstrated peacefully on their campuses Monday and Tuesday. At Cairo University, about 350 students burned Israeli and American flags and shouted against Sharon. One banner read: ``Receiving Sharon is a shame on Egypt.''
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the agreement also included the establishment of joint committees - one to determine criteria for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, and the other to oversee the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities on the West Bank.
Associated Press writers Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Salah Nasrawi and Sarah el-Deeb in Sharm el-Sheik contributed to this report.
02/08/05 11:15
� Copyright The Associated Press.
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Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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CJ Cregg
Commodore
Joined: 05 Oct 2002
Posts: 1254
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| Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:55 pm |
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Great News!! Lets hope it lasts and we get some real progress happening in the Middle East
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Wed Feb 09, 2005 11:12 am |
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| Quote: | Israel to Remove West Bank Roadblocks
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that Israel has agreed to remove major roadblocks as part of its withdrawal from five West Bank towns in coming weeks - the most tangible improvement in the lives of Palestinians as a result of a truce agreed to at a breakthrough summit.
Following Tuesday's Mideast summit at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, Israeli and Palestinian officials returned home and were working to hammer out the details of a cease-fire, trying restore trust in the post-Yasser Arafat era after four years of bloodshed.
On Wednesday, a senior Israeli military official confirmed that several roadblocks would be removed as part of the handover of security to the Palestinians.
Israeli army checkpoints ring all West Bank towns, with soldiers checking documents of all those entering and leaving, whether in cars or on foot. Long lines often form at these checkpoints, severely disrupting the lives of Palestinians. During more than four years of fighting, troops often sealed off towns entirely.
In the coming three weeks, Israel is to hand over security control in the towns of Jericho, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Bethlehem and Ramallah. The timetable was agreed to at Abbas' meeting Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Returning to his West Bank office Wednesday, Abbas said: ``The Israelis will withdraw from the cities and the adjacent areas and they will leave checkpoints, and Palestinian security forces will replace them at these checkpoints.''
A senior Israeli official said Wednesday that a second summit between Ariel Sharon and Abbas could take place within a week at the Israeli prime minister's ranch.
Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Sharon, said there will be a series of meetings between officials in the next few days to finalize the details. The meeting, he said could take place as early as ``in the coming days or a week.''
Sharon invited Abbas to meet him at his Sycamore Ranch in southern Israel during Tuesday's summit.
Gissin also said Sharon has invited Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to meet him in Jerusalem. Mubarak did not immediately answer, but the sides will discuss the possibility of a summit in Jerusalem in the coming weeks, Gissin said.
In the first reported violation of the truce, Palestinians opened fire on a car near a West Bank Jewish settlement after nightfall Tuesday and fired and threw firebombs at an army force that came to investigate, the Israeli military said. No one was hurt. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, affiliated with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, claimed responsibility.
``What we agreed upon today is simply the beginning of the process of bridging the gap,'' Abbas said.
In a well-orchestrated appearance following a series of private discussions, the two leaders read statements in their native languages, pledging an end to the violence. Sharon said Israel's military would halt its raids, and Abbas said Palestinian militants would stop attacking Israelis.
It was reminiscent of a summit in neighboring Jordan in 2003, when a similar truce was declared. It collapsed after less than two months in bloody suicide bombings and Israeli reprisal raids.
This time, the cease-fire agreement was accompanied by several concrete goodwill gestures.
Five hundred Palestinian prisoners are to freed next week by Israel, to be followed by 400 more at a later stage. Sharon's office said a ministerial committee to discuss prisoners would meet Sunday.
Also, Israeli troops will complete their handover of five West Bank towns to Palestinian control within three weeks, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said. Israeli and Palestinian security commanders are to meet Wednesday to prepare the handover of Jericho, the first West Bank town on the list of five.
On the streets of Israel and the Palestinian territories, people were careful not to hope too much.
``We've gone from euphoria to extreme disappointment,'' said Shimrit Golan, 26, an Israeli law student who lives in Jerusalem. ``We'll wait and see what happens.''
``In the end, we have to pray for peace, because violence will lead us to self-destruction,'' said Yussef Said, 60, a shopkeeper in Gaza City.
In one of the most symbolic gestures out of the summit, Sharon invited Abbas to visit him at his ranch in southern Israel and Abbas accepted, Israeli official Gideon Meir said.
In another signal the talks went well, Egypt and Jordan announced they would return their ambassadors to Israel after a four-year absence - possibly within days.
The first crack in the optimistic front came from the violence Islamic Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings that killed hundreds of Israelis.
Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, said Israel did not fulfill Palestinian demands to release prisoners and halt aggression. Therefore, he said, the truce is not binding on Hamas.
Associated Press writers Lara Sukhtian, Salah Nasrawi and Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Sharm el-Sheik contributed to this report.
02/09/05 10:11
� Copyright The Associated Press.
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Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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webtaz99
Commodore
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Posts: 1229
Location: The Other Side
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| Wed Feb 09, 2005 3:36 pm |
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Two things come to mind.
The Chinese say, "The longest journey begins with one footstep."
Plato said, "Give me the youth of one generation and I will remake the world."
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Sat Feb 12, 2005 7:36 pm |
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| Quote: | Palestinian Militants Adhere to Truce
By IBRAHIM BARZAK
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said Saturday they were adhering to a de facto truce with Israel, but stopped short of committing to the official cease-fire that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed on at their summit.
Israel agreed to repatriate about 55 Palestinians it deported to the Gaza Strip and Europe on terror accusations. The majority were exiled after a monthlong siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002.
In fast-paced moves to cement the truce, Israel said it will transfer control of the West Bank town of Jericho to Palestinians this coming week. As part of the cease-fire, Israel has pledged to return five West Bank towns - the others are Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Bethlehem and Ramallah - to Palestinian control within three weeks.
Leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad met Saturday with Abbas, who is trying to keep the fragile cease-fire intact and end more than four years of fighting.
The two groups had already agreed to halt attacks before the cease-fire agreement at Tuesday's summit in Egypt.
A Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, told The Associated Press the group will wait to see whether Israel stops its military activities and targeted killings of Palestinian militants before deciding whether to sign on to the official cease-fire.
Zahar, after meeting Abbas, said Hamas was ``committed to what is called 'quietness''' until it determines whether Israel meets its truce obligations, including disclosing the criteria for releasing Palestinian prisoners.
``Up to this moment, we are committed to the previous agreement with Mr. Abbas, and we are going to see how the Israelis'' act, Zahar told the AP.
Hamas was behind dozens of suicide bombings and attacks that killed hundreds of Israelis. On Thursday, it upset the Sharon-Abbas truce by training dozens of rockets and mortars on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Though Israel gave no timetable for the return of the deported Palestinians, one of the exiles, Ghanem Sweilem, told reporters in Gaza City on Saturday that they expect to go home within a week or two.
``Today, we received good news that an agreement was reached with the Israeli side to allow us to return to our cities ... each to his home, each to his city, within a short period of time,'' said Sweilem, who was exiled from his home in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus more than two years ago.
The repatriation of the deportees is part of a larger dispute over the release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel has agreed to free 900 of the estimated 8,000 Palestinian prisoners, but the Palestinians want a broader release.
Five hundred of the 900 prisoners are expected to be released soon. A ministerial committee on prisoner releases is to meet Sunday, Israel Radio said.
Israel has also agreed to lift travel restrictions in parts of the West Bank and abandon several major checkpoints as part of the handover. That would be a major dividend from the cease-fire for ordinary Palestinians, because the restrictions have caused them severe economic hardship.
The cease-fire has coincided with renewed U.S. attempts to get an internationally backed Mideast peace plan known as the ``road map'' back on track.
The new U.S. security coordinator for the Middle East, Army Lt. Gen. William E. Ward, is to make his first trip to the region later this month.
In Munich, Germany, NATO's top diplomat said Saturday the alliance should be ready to play a major role in supporting the peace efforts if asked. Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he planned to go to Israel next week, the first such visit by a NATO secretary-general.
02/12/05 19:16
� Copyright The Associated Press
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Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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