The Palestinians have asked former Turkish president Suleyman Demirel to take part in a fact-finding mission into the causes of the recent clashes in the Middle East, the Palestinian ambassador to Ankara, Fouad Yasseen, said Wednesday.
"We were those who proposed Demirel to this fact-finding committee. As far as I know, Demirel has accepted this proposition," Yasseen told reporters here.
He said that other names put forward for the seven-member committee included those of former US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, former South African president Nelson Mandela and former US Senator George Mitchell, who brokered the 1998 Good Friday peace deal in Northern Ireland.
The remaining three members of the committee could include a Japanese or a Chinese, Yasseen added.
"This committee... can eventually determine which part is responsible for the clashes and ask that it is punished," the ambassador said.
The fact-finding mission was one of the goals of an Israeli-Palestinian accord, agreed at a US-brokered summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on October 17, in a bid to stop the bloody clashes that have raged through the region since late September.
Seventy-seven year old Demirel was president of Turkey between 1993 and 2000, and is one of Turkey's most experienced politicians.
The liberal Milliyet daily said Wednesday that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had asked Demirel in a telephone call to take part in the committee.
Demirel refused to either confirm or deny the report.
"Be patient for a few days, everything will become clear," Demirel told reporters in the western city of Isparta, the Anatolia news agency reported.
More than 160 people have been killed or declared clinically dead in violent clashes across the Palestinian territories since September 28.
Predominantly Muslim but secular Turkey, which has close ties both with Israel and the Palestinians, has repeatedly urged the two sides to stop the violence and resume talks -- ANKARA (AFP)
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