Al-Ahram Weekly Online 9 - 15 August 2001 Issue No.546
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue | Previous issue | Site map

Defence policy

US PRESIDENT George Bush has assured President Mubarak that the US is still very much engaged in the Middle East peace process, and considers peace in the region a top foreign policy priority.

Defending his Middle East policy from mounting criticism by Washington's closest allies in the region, Bush told reporters on Tuesday that he had written to President Mubarak informing him that the US administration was in contact on a regular basis with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities. But, Bush said, he still believed both sides should stop the cycle of violence as a prerequisite for moving ahead with the Mitchell Committee recommendations. US presidential aides said a similar message was relayed to Jordan's King Abdullah in a telephone conversation on 31 July, AFP reported.

Bush's assurance came in reply to an urgent letter from President Mubarak warning of the dangerous situation in the Middle East in face of the continuing Israeli aggression.

Diamond cover

A PREVIOUSLY-unknown group calling itself the "Nobles of Jordan" claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the fatal shooting of a 51- year-old Israeli businessman, Yitzhak Shnir, near his villa in Amman, raising fears that spiraling Palestinian-Israeli violence could spill over to neighbouring countries.

The Al-Manar television station, run by the Islamic Hizbullah movement in Beirut, cut into its programme to broadcast a statement by the group which said Shnir, a diamond merchant, was working in Amman as an undercover Zionist Mossad agent. Jordanian officials are treating the killing as a criminal act with no political motives, and are investigating a possible settling of scores. The Israeli Foreign Ministry meanwhile warned its citizens against travelling to Jordan or Egypt, saying a terrorist attack could not be ruled out. A Palestinian died yesterday in a car explosion on the West Bank, and the Israeli army launched a helicopter and anti-tank missile attack against Palestinian police posts.

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