Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Palestinian National
Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, in an effort to
break a deadlock in negotiations on a joint statement, which will
be presented at an international peace summit.
Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert (R) meets with Palestinian National Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem, Nov. 19, 2007.
The meeting was the last one between the two leaders ahead of
the US-sponsored summit, which is scheduled to take place next week
in Annapolis, Maryland.
It was also probably the last chance for the two leaders to
exert their efforts to get the document ready in time.
Shortly after the meeting ended, a spokesman at Olmert's office
said that Olmert and Abbas made some progress in certain elements
regarding the joint paper during the two-hour discussion.
The spokesman didn't elaborate the details about the progress,
but said that the two sides' negotiation teams would resume talks
on Monday night.
On Sunday, a top diplomat was quoted by local daily Yedioth
Ahronoth as saying that a stalemate in negotiations may lead
Israel and the Palestinians to write up separate statements
detailing their political agendas ahead of the US-led peace
conference.
The official added that, "At present time, we don't have a joint
statement or even a draft one."
At Monday's cabinet meeting, Olmert said that the upcoming
Annapolis conference would be important, despite the fact that no
negotiations would be taking place there.
The remarks implied that Israel sees the conference mainly as a
ceremonial launching pad for new peace efforts, while the
Palestinians want a more detailed plan for how post-conference
talks will proceed.
The Israeli Cabinet also approved on Monday the release of 441
Palestinian prisoners as a good-will gesture to Abbas. But the
number of prisoners to be released are far less than 2000, a number
Abbas demanded Israel to free.
Israel holds nearly 10,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Olmert also announced at the cabinet meeting that Israel would
freeze any construction of new settlements in the West Bank, and
uproot all the unauthorized outpost in the area.
He said that as part of the political process that will follow
the Annapolis summit, Israel must be prepared to make difficult
decisions regarding its future.
"It is impossible to repeat that the road map is a strategic
asset for Israel and at the same time to ignore our obligations,"
said Olmert, adding that Israel will not build new settlements, not
expropriate land, and to raze illegal outposts.
The promise Monday to dismantle tiny settlement outposts, are
key aspects of the "road map," a US-backed peace plan that stalled
shortly after its inception in 2003 because neither Israel nor the
Palestinians met initial obligations.
The US has been trying to revive the road map ahead of the peace
conference.
However, he made no promise to halt construction in existing
settlements, as required by the road map.
While the politicians are busy preparing the document, the
Israeli army is also in a heightened state of alert ahead of the
Annapolis summit.
According to Israeli daily the Jerusalem Post, officials
from the Israel Defense Forces have said there were currently ten
specific warnings concerning Palestinian militants in the Gaza
Strip plans to launch terror attacks before the summit.
The officials were quoted as saying that while there was no
concrete intelligence that the warnings were connected to the peace
summit, the assumption was that Palestinian militants in Gaza would
try to perpetrate an attack to spoil the peace efforts.
On Monday, during the process of Olmert and Abbas' meeting, a
number of Qassam and mortar barrages were launched from Gaza
against southern Israeli communities. But none of the attacks
caused injuries.
(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2007)
