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Saturday, January 5, 2002
By Ross Dunn
Herald Corresponden

Mr. Zinni is urging Israel to begin implementing the plans set down by the head of the CIA, George Tenet, and an international inquiry into the violence chaired by the former US senator George Mitchell.

JERUSALEM -- SMH & News Agencies
Israeli leaders have warned the United States envoy Anthony Zinni that it is too early to reward the Palestinians with political concessions, claiming the region was like "a volcano threatening to explode".

The message, from the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, was delivered to Mr Zinni before he was scheduled to meet Mr Sharon and, later, the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, yesterday.

Mr Zinni, a retired marine general who arrived on Thursday for his second visit to the region, is pushing Israel to accept that a recent drop in Palestinian violence had set the stage for the parties to return to negotiations.

Israel's Defence Minister, Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, told Mr Zinni: "It's an illusion that the situation is calm and there has been a significant drop in attacks, when in fact it is a barrel of gunpowder, a quiet volcano burning inside."
(More: SMH.com News Source)
2002 © The Sydney Morning Herald.

Dan