UK to Discuss Reform with Palestinian Officials via Telephone

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, January 14, 2003

UK to Discuss Reform with Palestinian Officials via Telephone

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair would discuss reform with senior Palestinian officials via telephone during a conference in London aimed at boosting the Middle East peace process, the Foreign Office said Monday.

According to an agenda published by the Foreign Office, the conference, initiated by Blair in December, would help the Palestinians prepare for implementation of a roadmap leading to statehood.

Issues of Palestinian internal reform, together with talks on the Palestinian Authority's role in stopping terror, would top the agenda of the one-day meeting hosted by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Palestinian Authority Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Sha'ath and Minister of Finance Salam Fayyad were forced to take part in the talks via telephone as Israel still banned them from traveling to the London talks,

The Israeli decision came after two suicide bombings killed more than 20 people in a crowded area in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Jan. 5.

Representatives from the diplomatic Quartet of Mideast mediators, the European Union, the United Nations, the United States and Russia, as well as those from Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia would join in the reform conference in London, the Foreign Office said.

Blair and Straw would also meet Palestinian General Delegate Afif Safieh at the meeting.

Britain, which regarded the meeting as an important initiative aimed at injecting new momentum into Palestinian reforms, did not invite Israel to attend the London talks.

Israel, who refused Blair's call to lift the travel ban on Palestinians, argued that an international peace plan for the Middle East would fail unless there was a change in the Palestinian leadership.

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