Israel has asked the US to stop the activities of the inquiry committee investigating violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, reported Haaretz newspaper.
Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak sent a letter to US Secretary of State Collin Powell on Wednesday, stating that the existence of the committee was not compatible with the reality of ongoing Palestinian violence, said the paper.
The committee was set up at the Sharm el-Sheikh ceasefire summit in October last year.
He said that the Palestinians have continued with the violence and incitement, that there is no cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces and that a renewal of negotiations looks unlikely.
“These changes raise big question marks regarding the ability of the committee to successfully fulfil its function, and so our governments need to consult on this issue," Barak said in the letter.
Deputy director-general of the defense ministry, Moshe Kochanovsky, who has been proposing that attempts be made to freeze the work of the committee, stated that Israel would not gain any benefit from the committee's investigations, which were meant to determine the causes of the Intifada in its early stages, Haaretz said.
Israel boycotted the committee, headed by former US senator George Mitchell, last month after the committee's technical team toured al-Haram al-Sharif without coordination with Israeli authorities.
The other panel members include former US senator, Warren Rudman, Turkish former president, Suleyman Demirel, and EU foreign chief, Javier Solana - Albawaba.com
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