The aim of this escalation is purely political to oblige the Palestinians to accept an everlasting truce, accept unilateral solutions and temporary state, borders forever.

Of course, Mrs. Arafat did not mean poison gas, but tear gas. We agreed with President Clinton that the Palestinians and Israelis must resolve their differences through dialogue and negotiations.

We didn't get responses on forming a Palestinian-Israeli joint committee to follow up and observe the operation of distributing ballots, voting and the movement of voters as well as candidates.

I don't think we can classify it legally as an international border now because Gaza is not free of occupation.

Carving out a so-called buffer zone is tantamount to reoccupying Gaza. We are exerting maximum efforts to restore calm.

Carving out a so-called buffer zone is tantamount to reoccupying Gaza.