Powell telephones Sharon, Peres

The spokesman for the US state department Richard Boucher has said that the US secretary of State Colin Powell made telephone calls on Wednesday evening with each of the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and with his foreign minister Shimon Peres.

News reports said that Powell made these conversations with Sharon and Peres before the meeting of the mini Israeli Cabinet for defense affairs which discussed the tense situations in the occupied Palestinian territories especially following the breaking in operations and the incursion in several Palestinian authority area in Gaza and the West Bank as well as the Israeli army occupation of Beit Jala town which is close to Bethlehem since last Monday.

Well-informed sources said that Powell's talks aimed at putting an end to what it called the acts of violence in the Middle East.