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British Foreign minister seeks reform for poll
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British Foreign minister seeks reform for poll
Foreign Minister Jack Straw seeked assurances from Palestinian leaders yesterday that they will reform their security forces to help stop violence and work to revive the Middle East peace process. A senior British official, who asked not to be identified, said the Palestinians had made the right noises about stopping violence but had to implement their pledges.
?It?s a question of finding out what they are delivering and are they going to deal with the difficult issues, including the way these security services are operated,? said the official. Straw met Palestine Liberation Organisation head Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie yesterday in the West Bank city of Ramallah and lay a wreath at Yasser Arafat?s grave. He won a pledge from Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Wednesday that the Jewish state would help the Palestinians hold free and fair elections for a successor to Arafat on January 9.
British officials said they were encouraged after Israel promised to allow foreign observers to monitor the vote, although Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has stopped short of committing to a troop pullback in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Straw is the latest of a string of leading international politicians to visit the region in a drive for peace following Arafat?s death. Sharon cancelled a meeting with Straw because he had lost his voice through illness. Palestinians seek statehood in the West Bank and Gaza, which the Jewish state captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Madeline CHAMBERS
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