Israel says no peace deal by end of year
Egyptian border guard stand next to a newly discovered tunnel close the Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian Gaza Strip on August 19 2008. Egyptian police have found a cache of weapons and explosives in the Sinai desert, which they believe was destined for the Gaza Strip, a security official said yesterday. A tip-off led police to the cache where they found two plastic bags filled with 100 kilos of TNT explosives, as well as 15 hand grenades, five mortar rounds and nine anti-tank mines, the official told AFP.Photo: AFP
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday that he cannot see a peace deal being reached with the Palestinians before the end of the year, despite US optimism on such an accord.
"We would like to see a breakthough in the negotiations with the Palestinians before the end of 2008," Barak told journalists in the Egyptian port of Alexandria after talks with President Hosni Mubarak.
But "I cannot tell you that I feel confident it will be accomplished in that timetable," he said. "I wish something will come out of it but I cannot tell you honestly that I see a peace agreement emerging within the next few months."
The declarations came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni both voiced optimism over the peace talks.
"We continue to find the way to reach an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians," Livni told reporters. "Even in these hectic days we continue to negotiate."
On her way to the region, Rice said that "We continue to have the same goal which is to reach agreement by the end of the year."
In Israel, Rice said progress was being made despite difficulties, and she was "very heartened by the fact that the negotiations are serious and they are intensive".
"In fact I believe that the parties have succeeded in moving their understandings of what needs to be achieved and indeed their positions somewhat closer together over this period of time," Rice said.
The two sides formally relaunched the peace process after a seven-year hiatus at a US-hosted conference last November, with the goal of signing a full peace deal by the time President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.
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