Founding a Palestinian state not dependent on any one person, says Egypt, Jordan

The Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers Ahmad Maher and Marwan Muasher, respectively stressed in New York that the US rejection of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat will not foil peace efforts which have been made in the Middle East.

In a press conference they held on Tuesday the two ministers said that the aim is still to end the Israeli occupation in the occupied West Bank and the foundation of a Palestinian state and this is not dependent on any particular persons.

On the other hand, European and American officials have announced that members of the so-called "quartet committee" on the Middle East (US, Russia, Europe and the UN) intend to send a team of experts in the area of intelligence from the US, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia in order to help the Palestinians reforming their security system.

The higher representative of the foreign policy in the European Union Javier Solana explained to the press following a meeting for the quartet committee that the CIA will be there on the ground two weeks immediately after the arrival of their Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi colleagues.

On the other hand, an American official asked to be anonymous said that the schedule Solana talked about is very optimistic and that the talks with Israel and the Palestinian are a very important matter prior to sending such (an intelligence ) team. He stressed that the CIA director George Tenet and his team proposed a detailed project.