Voice of America, 01-08-08

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CONTENTS

[01] U-S / MACEDONIA (L) BY SCOTT STEARNS (WHITE HOUSE)

[02] U-S / MACEDONIA (S) BY SCOTT STEARNS (WHITE HOUSE)

[03] MACEDONIA (L-UPD) BY JEFF BIELEY (SKOPJE)

[04] NATO / MACEDONIA (L-ONLY) BY ROGER WILKISON (BRUSSELS)

[05] WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[06] WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[07] WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[08] MACEDONIA (L ONLY) BY JEFF BIELEY (SKOPJE)

[09] TURKEY / ISRAEL (L-O) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)

[01] U-S / MACEDONIA (L) BY SCOTT STEARNS (WHITE HOUSE)

INTRO: The United States has condemned an ambush in Macedonia in which ten government soldiers were killed. V-O-A's Scott Stearns reports a State Department spokesman also said the United States hopes the the warring sides in Macedonia will sign the tentative peace agreement announced Wednesday.

TEXT: State Department spokesman Richard Boucher says the United States condemns the ambush on government troops near the city of Tetovo.

[02] U-S / MACEDONIA (S) BY SCOTT STEARNS (WHITE HOUSE)

INTRO: The United States has condemned an ambush in Macedonia in which ten government soldiers were killed. V-O-A's Scott Stearns reports a State Department spokesman also said the United States hopes the the warring sides in Macedonia will sign the tentative peace agreement announced Wednesday.

TEXT: State Department spokesman Richard Boucher condemned the ambush on government troops near the city of Tetovo.

[03] MACEDONIA (L-UPD) BY JEFF BIELEY (SKOPJE)

INTRO: Macedonia's political leaders have initialed a preliminary peace deal under heavy pressure. The surprise move came hours after the prime minister had threatened to walk out of negotiations. Jeff Bieley reports from Skopje that a major guerrilla attack earlier and subsequent heavy fighting had threatened to scuttle the talks.

TEXT: The leaders of the four largest political parties in Macedonia initialed a preliminary agreement aimed at ending a six-month Albanian guerrilla insurgency. The surprise turn of events followed a rebel attack that killed at least 10 government soldiers. Following the attack, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's party said it would withdraw from peace talks between ethnic-Albanian and Macedonian political leaders. But under strong pressure from U-S and European Union envoys, all sides initialed a document of reforms that had already been agreed to in 11-days of negotiations. The deal calls for expanded rights for the country's ethnic-Albanian minority in key areas demanded by the guerillas. But several minor issues will have to be settled before a formal signing ceremony on Monday. One Albanian politician cautioned other events could wreck the deal, saying, "...until Monday is a long time." Wednesday morning, an ambush by the ethnic Albanian N-L-A guerrillas killed 10 Macedonian soldiers on a road west of the capital, Skopje. The army responded by sealing off the main highway linking the capital with Tetovo and deploying attack helicopters to strike rebel groups in the area. Fighting later broke out farther west, with heavy machine-gun fire reported in Tetovo and shelling heard coming from nearby villages. The clashes stopped about half an hour before the peace agreement was signed in the southwestern city of Ohrid. (SIGNED)
NEB/JB/GE/RAE SLUG: 2-279102 NATO - Macedonia (L only) DATE: NOTE NUMBER:

[04] NATO / MACEDONIA (L-ONLY) BY ROGER WILKISON (BRUSSELS)

INTRO: NATO has condemned an attack (Wednesday) by ethnic Albanian insurgents that killed 10 Macedonian soldiers, saying it was detrimental to all of the Balkan country's people. V-O-A correspondent Roger Wilkison reports the deadliest single guerrilla attack against government forces since the insurgency erupted six months ago, nearly derailed the Western-sponsored peace talks between majority Slav and minority ethnic Albanian political parties.

TEXT: NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur says NATO vigorously condemns the ambush by insurgents of a Macedonian military convoy and the death of the soldiers.

[05] WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: U-S newspapers are commenting in editorials (Wednesday) about a potential breakthrough in the Northern Ireland peace process and about a large book advance for President Clinton's memoirs. Other commentaries discuss human cloning, Argentina's economic situation, the U-S - Mexican truck controversy, and a former hostage's legal claim against Iran. Here is ___________ with a closer look and some quotes in today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: A proposal described as a possible breakthrough in the Northern Ireland peace process is drawing a good deal of comment. The Irish Republican Army (I-R-A) has reportedly said it will begin destroying its arms caches. But the Ulster Unionists are demanding an immediate start to the plan, a demand that could lead to the collapse of Northern Ireland's power sharing government. The Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer is cautiously optimistic.

VOICE: At last, the Irish Republican Army has demonstrated that it knows another negotiating strategy besides intransigence. After months of defiance and years of stalling, the I-R-A has offered a disarmament plan that satisfies an independent commission charged to oversee decommissioning (disarming).

TEXT: In New Jersey's capital, the (Trenton) Times says there is now "reason for hope -- again," and the Denver (Colorado) Post comments:

VOICE: Heretofore, the I-R-A has been reluctant to disarm ... because such an act could be perceived as defeat. By calling for destruction of the weapons, however, the latest agreement avoids such a connotation.

TEXT: The Allentown (Pennsylvania) Morning Call is more skeptical, saying the "I-R'A's fine words must be followed by real action," and adding, "Complicating matters is the fact that the disarmament commission has agreed not to reveal the I-R-A's method for disarming." The Minneapolis, Minnesota, Star Tribune frets that now that the I-R-A has changed its position, the Protestants are balking.

VOICE: ... The (Good Friday accord)... has never been closer to fulfillment -- or farther. ... Now ... (Unionist leader David) Trimble is backpedaling. (He says) his party will stick with the new power-sharing government only if the I-R-A starts destroying weapons in the next few days ... virtually (assuring) dissolution of the new assembly...

TEXT: U-S newspapers also commented on the approximately ten-million-dollars former president Bill Clinton will get from the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house to write his memoirs. The New York Times says of the proposed work:

VOICE: It would be helpful for us to know more of what was in Mr. Clinton's mind and what impelled him to do what he did, whether the subject is welfare reform, Mideast negotiations, Monica Lewinsky or Marc Rich. .... We have seen many Bill Clintons over the years, enough to make this one book a chorus of voices.

TEXT: The Los Angeles Times places the news in the context of what it suggests is a Clinton renaissance.

VOICE: After a few missteps, (Mr.) Clinton seems to have hit his post-White House stride, beginning with putting his office in Harlem. The memoir will allow him to make the case that, for all the fireworks, his presidency was about something more substantial that sexual peccadilloes.

TEXT: The Greensburg (Pennsylvania) Tribune-Review calls the money "an excessive amount..." It says the figure is:

VOICE: ... a monetary caricature representative of the excessive man ... Mr. Clinton is and the immoderate presidency over which he presided. ...

TEXT: U-S newspapers also comments on the debate about the possible cloning of a human being. An Italian doctor said (Tuesday) in Washington that he will go ahead with plans to try to clone a human being in Italy, where such action is not illegal. The U-S House of Representatives has just passed a bill making it illegal in the United States. The Chattanooga (Tennessee) Free Press says: VOICED: ... With the science of cloning having been proved with the birth of Dolly the sheep, it was inevitable that some would rush to ignore the ethical issues, opening the Pandora's Box of cloning human beings somewhere.

TEXT: Portland's Oregonian comments:

VOICE: Cloning is ... still in its infancy. Skipping from sheep and cows to human babies during the trial-and-error stage of experimentation seems an unconscionable act of cruelty and arrogance yet this is precisely the plan. ... Before Dolly the cloned sheep was born, researchers had 277 failed Dollies. Imagine that many infants thrown away before an acceptable baby-shaped clone emerged.

TEXT: And the Manchester (New Hampshire) Union Leader frets: "The religious among us are right to wonder whether cloned humans will possess souls, since their creation would occur so inhumanely...

TEXT: The Charleston (South Carolina) Post and Courier comments about Argentina's serious economic crisis, suggesting it is the worst in the country's history:

VOICE: Now Argentina must save itself. The Bush administration made the right decision by not coming to the rescue with a gigantic bail-out... as President Clinton did (with) Mexico... Once and for all, Argentina must overcome the political divisions and class antagonism that have transformed a rich country into a Third World mendicant.

TEXT: The Sacramento (California) Bee comments on for the fatal shoot-down in April of a small plane carrying an American Christian missionary family by Peru's air force with U-S C-I-A help:

VOICE: There was a tragic breakdown in communication ...and a failure to follow prescribed procedures and exercise caution before firing at innocents. ...The drug interdiction program should be discontinued, at least until everyone engaged can converse comfortably in both English and Spanish...

TEXT: The Providence (Rhode Island) Journal comments on the proposal to allow Mexican trucks free access to the United States. It says "there is no good reason why Mexican trucks should be subject to more stringent standards... (than) ...American or Canadian trucks" as some in Congress are suggesting. In Nebraska, the Omaha World Herald, says Russia can no longer afford the size of its nuclear arsenal, and is facing economic "disarmament," and it suggests:

VOICE: With a weakened Russia willing to bargain, the United States has a crucial opportunity to maintain our security while lowering the level of nuclear arms. Few tasks will be more important for the Bush administration.

TEXT: The Washington Post expresses concern about a U-S judge's ruling that Iran must pay 314-million dollars to the family of a former hostage in Lebanon, the Reverend Lawrence Jenco. The Omaha World Herald agrees:

VOICE: If it becomes accepted that a judge in this country can penalize governments abroad for various abuses, what is to prevent judges in other countries from similarly imposing burdens on the U-S government?

TEXT: On that note, we conclude our editorial sampling from Wednesday's U-S newspapers.
NEB/ANG/JWH SLUG: 6-12418 Wednesday's Editorials DATE: NOTE NUMBER:

[06] WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: U-S newspapers are commenting in editorials (Wednesday) about a potential breakthrough in the Northern Ireland peace process and about a large book advance for President Clinton's memoirs. Other commentaries discuss human cloning, Argentina's economic situation, the U-S - Mexican truck controversy, and a former hostage's legal claim against Iran. Here is ___________ with a closer look and some quotes in today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: A proposal described as a possible breakthrough in the Northern Ireland peace process is drawing a good deal of comment. The Irish Republican Army (I-R-A) has reportedly said it will begin destroying its arms caches. But the Ulster Unionists are demanding an immediate start to the plan, a demand that could lead to the collapse of Northern Ireland's power sharing government. The Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer is cautiously optimistic.

VOICE: At last, the Irish Republican Army has demonstrated that it knows another negotiating strategy besides intransigence. After months of defiance and years of stalling, the I-R-A has offered a disarmament plan that satisfies an independent commission charged to oversee decommissioning (disarming).

TEXT: In New Jersey's capital, the (Trenton) Times says there is now "reason for hope -- again," and the Denver (Colorado) Post comments:

VOICE: Heretofore, the I-R-A has been reluctant to disarm ... because such an act could be perceived as defeat. By calling for destruction of the weapons, however, the latest agreement avoids such a connotation.

TEXT: The Allentown (Pennsylvania) Morning Call is more skeptical, saying the "I-R'A's fine words must be followed by real action," and adding, "Complicating matters is the fact that the disarmament commission has agreed not to reveal the I-R-A's method for disarming." The Minneapolis, Minnesota, Star Tribune frets that now that the I-R-A has changed its position, the Protestants are balking.

VOICE: ... The (Good Friday accord)... has never been closer to fulfillment -- or farther. ... Now ... (Unionist leader David) Trimble is backpedaling. (He says) his party will stick with the new power-sharing government only if the I-R-A starts destroying weapons in the next few days ... virtually (assuring) dissolution of the new assembly...

TEXT: U-S newspapers also commented on the approximately ten-million-dollars former president Bill Clinton will get from the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house to write his memoirs. The New York Times says of the proposed work:

VOICE: It would be helpful for us to know more of what was in Mr. Clinton's mind and what impelled him to do what he did, whether the subject is welfare reform, Mideast negotiations, Monica Lewinsky or Marc Rich. .... We have seen many Bill Clintons over the years, enough to make this one book a chorus of voices.

TEXT: The Los Angeles Times places the news in the context of what it suggests is a Clinton renaissance.

VOICE: After a few missteps, (Mr.) Clinton seems to have hit his post-White House stride, beginning with putting his office in Harlem. The memoir will allow him to make the case that, for all the fireworks, his presidency was about something more substantial that sexual peccadilloes.

TEXT: The Greensburg (Pennsylvania) Tribune-Review calls the money "an excessive amount..." It says the figure is:

VOICE: ... a monetary caricature representative of the excessive man ... Mr. Clinton is and the immoderate presidency over which he presided. ...

TEXT: U-S newspapers also comments on the debate about the possible cloning of a human being. An Italian doctor said (Tuesday) in Washington that he will go ahead with plans to try to clone a human being in Italy, where such action is not illegal. The U-S House of Representatives has just passed a bill making it illegal in the United States. The Chattanooga (Tennessee) Free Press says: VOICED: ... With the science of cloning having been proved with the birth of Dolly the sheep, it was inevitable that some would rush to ignore the ethical issues, opening the Pandora's Box of cloning human beings somewhere.

TEXT: Portland's Oregonian comments:

VOICE: Cloning is ... still in its infancy. Skipping from sheep and cows to human babies during the trial-and-error stage of experimentation seems an unconscionable act of cruelty and arrogance yet this is precisely the plan. ... Before Dolly the cloned sheep was born, researchers had 277 failed Dollies. Imagine that many infants thrown away before an acceptable baby-shaped clone emerged.

TEXT: And the Manchester (New Hampshire) Union Leader frets: "The religious among us are right to wonder whether cloned humans will possess souls, since their creation would occur so inhumanely...

TEXT: The Charleston (South Carolina) Post and Courier comments about Argentina's serious economic crisis, suggesting it is the worst in the country's history:

VOICE: Now Argentina must save itself. The Bush administration made the right decision by not coming to the rescue with a gigantic bail-out... as President Clinton did (with) Mexico... Once and for all, Argentina must overcome the political divisions and class antagonism that have transformed a rich country into a Third World mendicant.

TEXT: The Sacramento (California) Bee comments on for the fatal shoot-down in April of a small plane carrying an American Christian missionary family by Peru's air force with U-S C-I-A help:

VOICE: There was a tragic breakdown in communication ...and a failure to follow prescribed procedures and exercise caution before firing at innocents. ...The drug interdiction program should be discontinued, at least until everyone engaged can converse comfortably in both English and Spanish...

TEXT: The Providence (Rhode Island) Journal comments on the proposal to allow Mexican trucks free access to the United States. It says "there is no good reason why Mexican trucks should be subject to more stringent standards... (than) ...American or Canadian trucks" as some in Congress are suggesting. In Nebraska, the Omaha World Herald, says Russia can no longer afford the size of its nuclear arsenal, and is facing economic "disarmament," and it suggests:

VOICE: With a weakened Russia willing to bargain, the United States has a crucial opportunity to maintain our security while lowering the level of nuclear arms. Few tasks will be more important for the Bush administration.

TEXT: The Washington Post expresses concern about a U-S judge's ruling that Lebanon must pay 314-million dollars to the family of a former hostage in Iran, the Reverend Lawrence Jenco. The Omaha World Herald agrees:

VOICE: If it becomes accepted that a judge in this country can penalize governments abroad for various abuses, what is to prevent judges in other countries from similarly imposing burdens on the U-S government?

TEXT: On that note, we conclude our editorial sampling from Wednesday's U-S newspapers.
NEB/ANG/JWH SLUG: 6-12418 Wednesday's Editorials DATE: NOTE NUMBER:

[07] WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: U-S newspapers are commenting in editorials (Wednesday) about a potential breakthrough in the Northern Ireland peace process and about a large book advance for President Clinton's memoirs. Other commentaries discuss human cloning, Argentina's economic situation, the U-S - Mexican truck controversy, and a former hostage's legal claim against Iran. Here is ___________ with a closer look and some quotes in today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: A proposal described as a possible breakthrough in the Northern Ireland peace process is drawing a good deal of comment. The Irish Republican Army (I-R-A) has reportedly said it will begin destroying its arms caches. But the Ulster Unionists are demanding an immediate start to the plan, a demand that could lead to the collapse of Northern Ireland's power sharing government. The Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer is cautiously optimistic.

VOICE: At last, the Irish Republican Army has demonstrated that it knows another negotiating strategy besides intransigence. After months of defiance and years of stalling, the I-R-A has offered a disarmament plan that satisfies an independent commission charged to oversee decommissioning (disarming).

TEXT: In New Jersey's capital, the (Trenton) Times says there is now "reason for hope -- again," and the Denver (Colorado) Post comments:

VOICE: Heretofore, the I-R-A has been reluctant to disarm ... because such an act could be perceived as defeat. By calling for destruction of the weapons, however, the latest agreement avoids such a connotation.

TEXT: The Allentown (Pennsylvania) Morning Call is more skeptical, saying the "I-R'A's fine words must be followed by real action," and adding, "Complicating matters is the fact that the disarmament commission has agreed not to reveal the I-R-A's method for disarming." The Minneapolis, Minnesota, Star Tribune frets that now that the I-R-A has changed its position, the Protestants are balking.

VOICE: ... The (Good Friday accord)... has never been closer to fulfillment -- or farther. ... Now ... (Unionist leader David) Trimble is backpedaling. (He says) his party will stick with the new power-sharing government only if the I-R-A starts destroying weapons in the next few days ... virtually (assuring) dissolution of the new assembly...

TEXT: U-S newspapers also commented on the approximately ten-million-dollars former president Bill Clinton will get from the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house to write his memoirs. The New York Times says of the proposed work:

VOICE: It would be helpful for us to know more of what was in Mr. Clinton's mind and what impelled him to do what he did, whether the subject is welfare reform, Mideast negotiations, Monica Lewinsky or Marc Rich. .... We have seen many Bill Clintons over the years, enough to make this one book a chorus of voices.

TEXT: The Los Angeles Times places the news in the context of what it suggests is a Clinton renaissance.

VOICE: After a few missteps, (Mr.) Clinton seems to have hit his post-White House stride, beginning with putting his office in Harlem. The memoir will allow him to make the case that, for all the fireworks, his presidency was about something more substantial that sexual peccadilloes.

TEXT: The Greensburg (Pennsylvania) Tribune-Review calls the money "an excessive amount..." It says the figure is:

VOICE: ... a monetary caricature representative of the excessive man ... Mr. Clinton is and the immoderate presidency over which he presided. ...

TEXT: U-S newspapers also comments on the debate about the possible cloning of a human being. An Italian doctor said (Tuesday) in Washington that he will go ahead with plans to try to clone a human being in Italy, where such action is not illegal. The U-S House of Representatives has just passed a bill making it illegal in the United States. The Chattanooga (Tennessee) Free Press says: VOICED: ... With the science of cloning having been proved with the birth of Dolly the sheep, it was inevitable that some would rush to ignore the ethical issues, opening the Pandora's Box of cloning human beings somewhere.

TEXT: Portland's Oregonian comments:

VOICE: Cloning is ... still in its infancy. Skipping from sheep and cows to human babies during the trial-and-error stage of experimentation seems an unconscionable act of cruelty and arrogance yet this is precisely the plan. ... Before Dolly the cloned sheep was born, researchers had 277 failed Dollies. Imagine that many infants thrown away before an acceptable baby-shaped clone emerged.

TEXT: And the Manchester (New Hampshire) Union Leader frets: "The religious among us are right to wonder whether cloned humans will possess souls, since their creation would occur so inhumanely...

TEXT: The Charleston (South Carolina) Post and Courier comments about Argentina's serious economic crisis, suggesting it is the worst in the country's history:

VOICE: Now Argentina must save itself. The Bush administration made the right decision by not coming to the rescue with a gigantic bail-out... as President Clinton did (with) Mexico... Once and for all, Argentina must overcome the political divisions and class antagonism that have transformed a rich country into a Third World mendicant.

TEXT: The Sacramento (California) Bee comments on for the fatal shoot-down in April of a small plane carrying an American Christian missionary family by Peru's air force with U-S C-I-A help:

VOICE: There was a tragic breakdown in communication ...and a failure to follow prescribed procedures and exercise caution before firing at innocents. ...The drug interdiction program should be discontinued, at least until everyone engaged can converse comfortably in both English and Spanish...

TEXT: The Providence (Rhode Island) Journal comments on the proposal to allow Mexican trucks free access to the United States. It says "there is no good reason why Mexican trucks should be subject to more stringent standards... (than) ...American or Canadian trucks" as some in Congress are suggesting. In Nebraska, the Omaha World Herald, says Russia can no longer afford the size of its nuclear arsenal, and is facing economic "disarmament," and it suggests:

VOICE: With a weakened Russia willing to bargain, the United States has a crucial opportunity to maintain our security while lowering the level of nuclear arms. Few tasks will be more important for the Bush administration.

TEXT: The Washington Post expresses concern about a U-S judge's ruling that Iran must pay 314-million dollars to the family of a former hostage in Iran, the Reverend Lawrence Jenco. The Omaha World Herald agrees:

VOICE: If it becomes accepted that a judge in this country can penalize governments abroad for various abuses, what is to prevent judges in other countries from similarly imposing burdens on the U-S government?

TEXT: On that note, we conclude our editorial sampling from Wednesday's U-S newspapers.
NEB/ANG/JWH SLUG: 2-279096 Macedonia (L only) DATE: NOTE NUMBER:

[08] MACEDONIA (L ONLY) BY JEFF BIELEY (SKOPJE)

INTRO: In Macedonia, ethnic-Albanian rebels are being blamed for an attack against a military convoy that killed ten government soldiers (Wednesday). Jeff Bieley in Skopje reports the attack has further complicated efforts to end months of fighting in Macedonia.

TEXT: The government soldiers were killed when their convoy was ambushed on a road linking the capital with the western city of Tetovo. A spokesman for Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski accused ethnic-Albanian rebels of carrying out the attack, which took place 15 kilometers west of the capital, near the village of Bojane. In response, the army sealed off the main highway leading west out of Skopje and sent attack helicopters to strike rebel groups in the area. After the attack, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's party withdrew from peace talks between ethnic-Albanian and Macedonian political leaders. The talks had been scheduled to resume later on Wednesday. A spokesman said the prime minister's party would decide soon whether it would stay in the talks. A joint statement by international envoys mediating the peace talks strongly condemned the attack, saying it is now "all the more important to conclude the discussions" on a political deal. The prime minister's spokesman said it appeared that the rebels are mounting a new offensive to capture more territory in the north of the country, where they already control several villages. The rebel attack occurred one day after Macedonian police killed five Albanians rebels in a raid in Skopje. (Signed)
NEB/JB/KL/JWH SLUG: 2-279093 Turkey/Israel (L-O) DATE: NOTE NUMBER:

[09] TURKEY / ISRAEL (L-O) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)

INTRO: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made a one-day visit to Turkey, Israel's staunchest regional ally. Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara that Mr. Sharon was seeking Turkey's help to end nearly 11-months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

TEXT: Prime Minister Sharon arrived in Turkey Wednesday on his first-ever visit here since he was elected prime minister in February. During his day-long visit, Mr. Sharon held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Speaking at a joint news conference following talks with Prime Minister Ecevit, the Israeli Prime Minister repeated his demands that the Palestinians end what he termed their acts of terror as a precondition for resuming peace talks. Turkish officials quoted by Turkish private television news channel, N-T-V, said the meeting between the two prime ministers had been stormy. Mr. Sharon asked his Turkish counterpart to exert pressure on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to end the nearly 11-month uprising in the Palestinian controlled West Bank and Gaza strip. Mr. Ecevit reportedly termed Mr. Sharon's demands - which include an international economic blockade against the Palestinians - as unrealistic. Turkey backs Palestinian aspirations for statehood. There is widespread public sympathy for the plight of the Palestinian people. Police broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Istanbul and arrested 35 protestors. For all their differences, the two prime ministers agreed that escalating violence in the Middle East should not impact bilateral relations between their two countries. Those relations have been flourishing ever since the signing of a military cooperation agreement in 1996 under which Israel and Turkey conduct joint military exercises in their respective territories. Israel has also become one of Turkey's principal arms suppliers. Defense projects involving the sale of Israeli-made missiles and technology to upgrade Turkish tanks were among the main topics taken up by the two leaders on Wednesday. Arab nations and Iran have repeatedly expressed concerns that what they term the "strategic alliance" between Turkey and Israel poses a threat to regional security and peace. Both countries deny their military partnership targets neighboring countries. (SIGNED)
NEB/AZ/GE/RAE

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