The Israeli cabinet will have the final say on whether Israel will allow international observers into the occupied Palestinian territories, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday.
He was responding, in the weekly cabinet meeting, to criticism of a plan on monitors from ministers Natan Sharansky and Dan Naveh, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Cabinet Secretary Gideon Sa'ar is traveling to Washington this week, in part to discuss the subject of monitors, added the paper.
Israel is insisting that any observers deployed must be from the CIA, but the Palestinians say the group must be comprised of people of various nationalities.
White House officials are expected to discuss America's Middle East policy on Monday, with the focus on the possibility of deploying American monitors in the Occupied Territories, sources said.
Senior Bush administration officials will also evaluate US regional interests, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stability in the Middle East, and the degree to which US involvement is required at this time, the sources told Haaretz newspaper.
Palestinian officials on Saturday denied Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’ remarks that the Palestinians had rejected increasing the number of US monitors in the Occupied Territories.
“The allegations are baseless,” an official statement said, carried by the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA – Albawaba.com
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