Israel's time-out from the Middle East peace process announced Friday following the failure of a ceasefire to take hold will last for "as long as necessary," Prime Minister Ehud Barak told Israeli television.
Barak was responding to a question about the length of time Israel would stand back from the peace process.
He said that this will be as "long as necessary in order to evaluate the situation and determine what we have to do, what the other side is doing, what we expect in the light of the lessons that have been learned from these painful events."
"We were prepared to consider far-reaching measures in order to bring about peace. We can't ignore what has happened over the past three weeks and say nothing has happened," he said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told AFP Friday that the Arab world was "up to" the challenge, when asked about Israel's threats to interrupt the peace process after an Arab summit in Cairo Saturday and Sunday.
"It's a statement we expected. It's a statement directed arrogantly at all Arab leaders and we're up to it," said Arafat, who arrived in Cairo earlier to take part in the emergency Arab summit – (AFP)
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