US urges Israel, Palestinians, to take immediate steps to stop violence

The United States underlined that the parties concerned in the Middle East need to take immediate steps to stop violence and restore calm so as to start implementing the Tenet plan.

A spokesman for the White House said that President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Colin Powell received two letters from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat urging them to intervene for stopping the Israeli assassination policy, ending violence and sending observers to the Palestinian territories to protect civilians under occupation.

PLO representative in Washington Hassan Abdul Rahman said that the two letters received by the American administration underline the gravity of the present situation in the Middle East.

Spokesman for the Department of State Richard Boucher reiterated that the idea of sending observers to the Palestinian lands might be useful within the framework of implementing the Mitchell report but should be agreed upon by both parties.

He underlined that viewpoints of the White House and the Department of State are identical.