The Israeli and Palestinian leaders met Sunday for the first of
a series of biweekly talks, addressing day-to-day issues such as
travel and trade restrictions, but also talking about the general
outlines of Palestinian statehood for the first time after six
years of paralysis in peacemaking.
"It was a good beginning," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat
said of the 2-hour meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The next meeting will be held in the West Bank town of Jericho,
marking the first time the two leaders come together in a
Palestinian town.
Israeli officials emphasized that the two sides did not go into
the key elements of a final peace deal, such as borders of a
Palestinian state, the future of Jerusalem or the fate of
Palestinian refugees
"We're not going to be talking about the core issues of the
final status at this stage, certainly not with the issue of
terrorism not being addressed adequately yet," said Israeli
government spokeswoman Miri Eisin.
Israel says it won't address these issues as long as the
Palestinian unity government fails to meet the international
conditions for acceptance, including explicit recognition of
Israel.
Erekat said the agenda was modest, but noted that it was the
first time since the collapse of peace talks in 2001 that Israeli
and Palestinian leaders raised broader issues, rather than just
dealing with day-to-day concerns.
Sunday's meeting was the first in a series of biweekly meetings
that Olmert and Abbas agreed to hold under prodding from US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Rice has urged the sides to move beyond day-to-day issues and
begin discussions on the "political horizon", referring to their
ideas about a final peace settlement creating an independent
Palestinian state alongside Israel. Abbas wants the talks to
quickly move beyond day-to-day issues.
Eisin said Sunday's talks were "very positive", adding that the
two leaders broke away from their aides and spoke one on one for
more than an hour.
She said Israel raised concerns about rocket attacks and weapons
smuggling in Gaza.
She said Israel hoped to reopen Gaza's Rafah crossing on the
Egyptian border and expand the hours of the Karni cargo crossing
between Gaza and Israel.
(China Daily via agencies April 16, 2007)
