U.S. calls for immediate cease-fire in Middle East

Albright

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called Thursday for both Israel and the Palestinians immediately to stop fighting each other and resume negotiations to end the Middle East crisis.

Speaking at a news conference as the fighting in Palestinian-ruled territories escalated, Albright said "we are in a very sad and difficult period" in the effort to negotiate the peace process.

Expressing her sadness at the loss of life which included the killing of two Israeli soldiers by a mob, she said: "I call upon the entire international community to join the United States in urging (Palestinian) Chairman (Yasser) Arafat to take the steps necessary to bring this senseless and destructive cycle of fighting to an end.

"No matter how justified they feel at the mob violence against their soldiers we're calling on the Israelis to bring an immediate end to the current operations by the IDF (Israel Defence Force)," she said.

Israeli helicopter gunships attacked targets in two Palestinian cities after the killing of the two Israeli soldiers.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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