Special Us Envoy To Middle East Meets Israeli Foreign Minister

Special US envoy to the Middle East Anthony Zinni met Shimon Perez, the Israeli foreign minister this morning. This afternoon a meeting has been planned with leader of the Palestinian National Authority Yasser Arafat. According to earlier reports, it was suggested that Anthony Zinni may suspend his peacekeeping mission because, "the conflict had turned into a military operation and the peace negotiation process had been terminated". However, information was received later that Washington had given its special representative instructions to stay in the region and try once again to convince the sides, at least at the first stage to resume a dialogue on ceasefire. According to several sources, Zinni is also instructed to try and hold a meeting between high-ranking representatives of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority.