Posted by Rafael Antonio Cabrero/India on March 24, 1997 at 18:52:58:
India sees with great trepidation the recent events in Israel. India is concerned and dismayed about the recent loss of life in Israel and asks that all parties return to the negotiating table.
While the cause of the blast in Tel Aviv last Friday has not yet been determined, the Israelis are acussing Palestinians groups of being beind it and the Palestinian National Authority of condoning the bombing. While there is a possibility that a Palestinian is involved in the tragic event, mutual recrimination is not an option. While Israel acusses the Palestinians of being guilty of the blast, these arise from the Israeli government's decision to begin building in East Jerusalem. All the progress achieved in the past years has been blown away by this unilateral decision.
India urges all parties to return to the negotiating table and to begin honest negotiations in order to bring this problem to a solution. India also urges the mediating parties as set forth in the Madrid Conference of 1991, to begin rapid consultations with the Israeli and Palestinians in order to defuse the growing tension in the region.
For that reason, India in the process of drafting a resolution calling all parties to return to the negotiating table with the situation. I ask my colleagues to read it when posted and to express their views and recommendations to it.
The progress achieved in the Arab-Israeli Process now lies hanging from a thin thread. India urges once again all parties to return to negotiations and discussions in order to solve the problem.