Israel criticizes London's conference

Israel on Wednesday criticized the conference which was held in London on Tuesday. Though the office of the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon described the conference condemnation of what he called terrorism as a positive result, other Israeli officials expressed non satisfaction over the results of the conference because it does not demand the Palestinians to desolve the Palestinian organizations following the Tel Aviv operation in which five Israelis were killed.

In the first Israeli- Palestinian meeting since the operation which took place on Friday, the Israeli deputy prime minister Shimon Peres held talks with the Palestinian civil affairs minister Muhammad Dahlan.

Peres's office said that the talks dealt with a series of proposals relating to cooperation in the civil and economic fields between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the context of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, expected in the Summer of this year.

In Ramullah, the Palestinian prime minister Ahmad Qurei called on the USA to define a date not to exceed one year in order to start Palestinian- Israeli negotiations over the final and permanent situation being the only solution for ending the conflict.

Qurei considered that any delay to starting the negotiations "gives Israel the opportunity to complete the wall of separation and expand the settlement in the Palestinian territories which would lead to the destruction of the peace process and the loss of the Palestinians of any hope to get an independent state."