Egyptian Envoy Urges Palestinians to declare cease-fire In a visit with Yasser Arafat, top Mubarak aid Osama el-Baz urged the Palestinians to unilaterally declare a cease-fire hoping that Israel will respond in kind... Sounds familiar.
Israel plans vast expansion of Golan settlements Almost in response to an offer to restart peace talks from Syria just last month, Israel decided to approve a plan by the agriculture minister, Yisrael Katz, to spend about US$70 million on housing for more than 10,000 settlers. They will be encouraged to move into the area by land grants and tax breaks.
Israel identifies 28 outposts to remove Israel has identified 28 unauthorised West Bank outposts to be torn down, in an attempt to satisfy the road map peace plan. The list was made public by a request from the Meretz party, and it expected to be challenge by settlers. They have removed some small outposts in recent weeks, but many others have been put up in their place. Yasser Arafat calls the list "deceptive." Critics say the Israelis need to dismantle double that amount to satisfy the roadmap.
Palestinians talk about one state solution The Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, said that if an agreement creating a Palestinian state could not be reached, the Palestinians may push to become citizens of a single state including Israel.
Palestinians threaten their own unilateral moves Seen as a response to Sharon's unilateral moves, the PLO executive committee, headed by Yasser Arafat, issued a statement saying the Palestinians had "the right to declare an independent democratic Palestine on all the territories that were occupied" since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Sharon refuses peace talks In response to a Syrian proposal to restart peace talks Sharon told his cabinet there was no need to re-start talks with Syria until they understood the reason for their call for dialogue (whatever that means). He also said, as usual, Syria must stop supporting terrorism before any they can start any talks.
Israeli President invites Syrian President to Israel Moshe Katsav invited Bashar Assad to Jerusalem to discuss peace negotiations on the condition that Assad not set any preconditions. Syria wants to restart peace talks where they left off a few years ago, and dismissed this invitation as not serious.
Violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border A flare-up of violence started with Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace that drew a response of anti-aircraft fire from Hezbollah and UN condemnation. Hezbollah later destroyed an Israeli military bulldozer which UN peacekeepers in the region said had crossed over into Lebanese soil.
Israel attacks Lebanon In retaliation for the Jan 19 rocket attack Israel launched air strikes on two abandoned bases in southern Lebanon. No casualties were reported in the strikes.
