- JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's
foreign minister said Wednesday that work would not stop on a huge barrier
in the West Bank despite President Bush's plea to Israel not to prejudice
peace talks by erecting "walls and fences."
-
- Silvan Shalom told Israel's Army Radio after Bush's call
during a speech in London that "the American position is known."
-
- "We have reached a clear and unequivocal decision
to build this fence, to prevent the extremists from attacking us,"
he said from Vienna. "We are doing everything we can to put up this
fence that will prevent infiltrations."
-
- Israel says that its barrier through the West Bank is
to stop infiltration by militants bent on attacking the Jewish state. Palestinians
accuse Israel of trying to secure its hold on land it has occupied since
1967.
-
- Bush has criticized the barrier in the past, but his
latest comments come amid growing signs of a possible resumption of talks
between Israel and the Palestinians on a U.S.-backed peace "road map."
-
- Bush also said Palestinians should adopt peaceful means
in their dealings with Israel, and urged Arab states to end anti-Israeli
incitement in their media and cut off funding for terrorism.
-
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