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Frantic Mideast diplomacy fails to stem violence
CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) -- The escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence has triggered a frantic diplomatic offensive in a race against time to end the bloodshed.
Officials from the United Nations, Europe, the United States and Arab countries have flocked to the region in a massive but largely uncoordinated effort to deal with the crisis, in which almost 100 people, mainly Arabs, have been killed.
Despite the diplomatic shuttles and marathon meetings, the crisis seemed to be escalating Thursday when a Palestinian mob stabbed to death two Israeli soldiers discovered inside a Palestinian town. Israel said it "would know what to do."
Following is a list of leaders, officials and envoys on diplomatic shuttles in the region:
INTERNATIONAL
U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN arrived in the Middle East on October 9 and has held crisis talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and other Arab leaders.
He traveled to Beirut Thursday to discuss the fate of three Israeli soldiers seized by Hezbollah guerrillas and ways to improve security in the volatile Israeli border area. He met Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, whose country has influence over Hezbollah.
Annan returned to Israel after the lynch mob attack on the Israeli soldiers.
The EUROPEAN UNION's CHIEF FOREIGN POLICY REPRESENTIVE, JAVIER SOLANA, held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah on Thursday. Solana had previously held talks with Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders.
The EU's MIDDLE EAST ENVOY, MIGUEL ANGEL MORATINOS is traveling with Solana.
INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES:
KING ABDULLAH OF JORDAN held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday after a morning meeting with the EU's Solana. He is due to meet British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in Amman later in the day and is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia for talks on Saturday.
BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ROBIN COOK also held talks with Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh Thursday before continuing on to Syria and Jordan. He arrived in the Middle East Wednesday for talks with Barak and Arafat.
IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER KAMAL KHARRAZI was in Lebanon
Thursday, where he held talks with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan. On his arrival in Damascus Wednesday, Kharrazi said he
foresaw no quick exchange of three Israeli soldiers seized by
Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border Saturday for Arab
prisoners held in Israel. Iran founded and has backed
Hezbollah.
Kharrazi has also held talks with Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and radical
Palestinian groups in Syria.
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IGOR IVANOV arrived in Athens
Thursday after a whistle-stop tour of the Middle East. During
his tour he met top officials in Israel, Lebanon and Syria as
well as Palestinian officials. He also held talks with Kharrazi
in Syria.
U.S. CIA CHIEF GEORGE TENET arrived in the Middle East
Thursday to chair a high-level Israeli-Palestinian security
meeting to try to end the violence.
LIBYAN LEADER MOAMMAR GADHAFI is in Saudi Arabia for
talks on the violence and a planned Arab summit. Gadhafi is
currently on a regional tour, which began on Oct. 2 and has already taken him to Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Copyright
2000
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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