UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Saturday no preconditions had been lodged by either side for a Israeli-Palestinian summit, although he added there had been "suggestions" of "certain demands."
"There were no preconditions. There were suggestions and certain demands. But we did discuss it with the parties," Annan told reporters in Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have agreed to attend a summit in Egypt to try to stop the more than two weeks of deadly violence in the Palestinians territories.
"It is not unusual in a situation like this you have a cease-fire, a cessation of hostilities for the period leading to the summit and during the summit and then trying to make it a permanent cease-fire," Annan added.
"I have asked both sides to stop firing into the summit and at the summit, one of the tasks we'll try to concretize would be a cease-fire." – JERUSALEM (AFP)
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