The Commission, headed by former U.S. senator and Northern Ireland peace-broker George Mitchell, handed over its preliminary findings on Friday to the Israeli and Palestinian authorities, who are to study it and respond with comments in the next two weeks. Palestinians have reacted positively to parts of the findings that criticize Israel's settlement policy and the use of rubber-coated metal bullets. Israel has rejected the link made in the report between the settlements and the continued violence, and government officials said they were satisfied with those parts of the report that call on the Palestinians to cease violence. Palestinians started a wave of protests after Ariel Sharon encroached on al-Aqsa mosque, a holy Muslim site in East Jerusalem, on September 28, 2000. Western news agencies say more than 500 Palestinians, most of them teenagers and children, have died since Israel started its clampdown on the Palestinian protests.
Some Palestinian officials say the number of victims is much higher.
Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah II began talks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about the Arab-Israeli crisis. Prior to the meeting, a senior Jordanian official said the talks were expected to focus on implementing a joint bid to end the Israeli spiral of violence and to resume the Middle East talks. The summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort follows one on Saturday between Mubarak and Arafat who called for a new summit, to be attended by the seven participants of the October 17th Sharm El Sheikh summit, to review the findings of the U.S.-led Mitchell Commission. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and Israeli and Palestinian leaders attended the October summit only weeks after the start of the Intifiada. The Egyptian-Jordanian initiative calls for a total halt to Israel's settlement activities and urges the Israeli government to resume Middle East talks with the Palestinians from where they left off in October.