(AP/San Francisco Chronicle) Barry Schweid - After a meeting on Tuesday at the UN, representatives of the Quartet (UN, U.S., EU, and Russia), including Secretary of State Powell, called for reorganizing Palestinian leadership to counter terror attacks on Israel and said territory evacuated by Israel should be turned over to the PA. They endorsed again establishment of a Palestinian state and "took positive note" of a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Sharon to withdraw Israeli troops and all 7,500 Jewish settlers from Gaza - a plan that the Israel leader's own Likud political party rejected on Sunday. Powell said Sharon's proposal, which the prime minister may revise in a bid to gain approval in Israel, is "an opportunity that ought to be seized." On Monday, a senior Bush administration official said Bush would not try to put Sharon's Gaza plan back on track.
2004-05-05 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive