Sharon insist to remain outside international legitimacy

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher Thursday said the Israeli escalations against the Palestinian people, despite the denunciation of the entire world including the United States, proves the insistence of Sharon on remaining outside the framework of international legitimacy and laws of ethics and defying the world.

In statements during a stopover in Paris en route to Agadir, Morocco, to take part in the Mediterranean Forum, Maher said the stance of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon makes it necessary for the civilized world to take measures towards halting such acts.

He called on world countries to take swift steps to force Israel to pull out from the Palestinian territories occupied over the past few weeks and show goodwill towards joining serious negotiations to reach a final settlement based on international legitimacy.

Maher was Thursday informed that the UN, the US, the European Union and Russia agree on the necessity of Israel's immediate withdrawal from Palestinian self-rule areas it has reoccupied in recent incursions.

Speaking on phone with the Egyptian official, UN envoy for the Middle East Terje-Roed Larsen said that representatives of the four partners planned talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat while German foreign Minister Joschka Fischer would meet Sharon.

Maher told Larsen that if the UN Security Council met on the situation in the Palestinian territory, the council had to issue a clear-cut resolution based on the key principles, including the necessity of Israel's cessation of the assassination policy and observance of a cease-fire.

Israel's fresh pushes into the Palestinian self-controlled towns and brutal crackdown on inhabitants drew rebuke from US President George W. Bush who demanded Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian areas "as soon as possible".