61.   Rabin faced intense pressure to suspend autonomy negotiations after appeals from President Ezer Weizman and right-wing parties.

62.   Shaath, who led the PLO team at the autonomy negotiations, said he would head the Palestinian delegation in Cairo on Monday.

63.   Several committee members have pledged to demand a suspension of the autonomy negotiations.

64.   Several leading Palestinian figures have urged Arafat to suspend the autonomy negotiations with Israel because of the Jewish settlement programme.

65.   Several leading Palestinian figures have urged Arafat to suspend the autonomy negotiations with Israel because of the Jewish settlement programme in the West Bank.

66.   Shaath and Peres co-chair the Israeli-PLO liaison committee which oversees all the autonomy negotiations and tries to settle disputes.

67.   The autonomy negotiations were suspended after the head of the Israeli delegation, General Gady Zohar, resigned a month ago.

68.   The autonomy negotiations have been threatened in recent days in particular by the issue of continued construction work on Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.

69.   The autonomy negotiations have bogged down over the long-delayed elections to an autonomy council.

70.   The failure of the last-ditch talks prompted the Israeli right-wing opposition to call for a complete halt to autonomy negotiations.