PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak yesterday received a report from Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on the agreement which has ended the crisis between Turkey and Syria and which sets the stage for a dialogue between the two neighbours. Moussa said both sides had expressed satisfaction on the way the negotiations had ended and thanked Egypt for its mediation efforts.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Ankara said that if everything in the deal, signed on Tuesday, became reality then Turkey will be ready to shake hands with its neighbour. Reuters said Ankara still reserved the right to take military measures in the future if it felt Damascus had failed to observe the deal.
Under the terms of the agreement, signed at secret talks in southern Turkey, Syria pledged to prevent Turkish Kurd guerrillas from operating on its territory and said it would also stop Kurdistan Workers' Party rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan from entering Syria.
Road blocks
DOZENS of Jewish settlers yesterday tried to block several West Bank roads to show their opposition to an emerging Israeli-Palestinian deal. Israeli army and police reinforcements diverted Palestinian cars as the settlers hurled stones at Palestinian cars and blocked a road near Beit-El settlement outside the town of Ramallah.
Other protesters blocked roads near Dolev, Talmon and Karne Tsur settlements and similar demonstrations took place in the Gush Etzion group of settlements south of Bethlehem.
The settlers' council held an emergency meeting in Jerusalem late Tuesday and called for a series of protests if a deal struck at the Wye Plantation summit in the US led to an Israeli withdrawal from more West Bank territory, AP reported.
Tennis time
THE FIRST Al-Ahram International Women's Tennis Exhibition is the big event next weekend at the Pyramids Plateau in Giza. See pages 10&11 for a comprehensive guide to the tournament and for details of how to book.
