International Conference on Palestinian Reform Opens in London

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 15, 2003

International Conference on Palestinian Reform Opens in London

An international conference on Palestinian reform opened in London on Tuesday, with Palestinian delegates taking part via video link as Israel denied their access to the conference.

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An international conference on Palestinian reform opened in London on Tuesday, with Palestinian delegates taking part via video link as Israel denied their access to the conference.

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

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Straw would also meet Palestinian General Delegate Afif Safieh during the meeting.

Representatives from the diplomatic Quartet of Middle East mediators, which include the European Union (EU), the United Nations, the United States and Russia, as well as those from Egypt,Jordan and Saudi Arabia were attending the London conference.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, Minister ofPlanning and International Cooperation Nabil Sha'ath and Minister of Finance Salam Fayyad had to join in the discussions via telephone after Israel issued a travel ban on Palestinians, in retaliation for two suicide bombings which killed more than 20 people in a crowded area in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Jan. 5.

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

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

Israel, which 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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