Papandreou and Cem to try again
Undaunted by Tel Aviv’s cool response to their joint initiative to talk Israelis and Palestinians into a peace process, Foreign Minister George Papandreou and his Turkish counterpart, Ismail Cem, will try again next week, officials said yesterday. Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Panayiotis Beglitis said the two foreign ministers «are prepared to visit the Palestinian territories next week, provided developments allow it, in order to contribute to ending the impasse and restarting the peace process.» His Turkish counterpart, Huseyin Dirioz, said much the same. The visit, a largely symbolic gesture intended to show that reconciliation is possible among age-old foes, was announced on April 9 and was supposed to take place on Tuesday or Wednesday. But, according to Beglitis, it failed to materialize because the Israelis would not allow the two – who enjoy a much publicized personal friendship – to see Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who has been besieged by the Israeli army since March 29 in his Ramallah headquarters.
