Sunday January 30 6:21 AM ET
Intensive Israeli-Palestinian Talks Begin
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators launched 10 days of intensive talks Sunday aimed at forging the draft of a U.S.-brokered permanent peace treaty, senior Israeli negotiator Oded Eran said.
The sides have pledged to nail down a framework accord by Feb. 13. A permanent peace deal, covering such core issues as the fate of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, and Jewish settlers, is to be sealed seven months later.
Eran told Reuters by telephone the deliberations were under way, but declined to discuss details of the closed-door talks.
Diplomatic sources said the negotiating teams met at an undisclosed location between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Ramallah.
The talks are expected to pick up the pace after the Wednesday arrival of President Clinton's Middle East envoy Dennis Ross, and a Friday summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
The United States, the main Middle East peace broker, said Thursday it doubted Israel and the Palestinians could meet the February 13 deadline for the so-called framework accord.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo said on Saturday the February target could be postponed if the Israelis showed seriousness during the 10-day negotiating round.
The intensive talks are part of a flurry of Middle East diplomatic activity scheduled for the coming week.
Later Sunday, Barak is to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo to seek ways to speed parallel peace tracks with Syria and the Palestinians.
Tuesday, Russia will host the first multilateral Middle East peace talks in more than three years.
The meeting, jointly chaired by Russia and the United States, will bring together representatives from Israel, a number of Arab states, and donor countries backing the Middle East peace process including Japan and the European Union.
The Friday Barak-Arafat summit was announced after Clinton met the Palestinian leader for about 30 minutes on the fringes of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In recent weeks, the Palestinian track languished in virtual abeyance as Barak shuttled to the United States for talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara.
The Israeli-Syrian negotiations, which broke a 45-month freeze when they opened in December, have since foundered over Syria's demand that Israel commit to a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights, captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Syria and its client Lebanon plan to skip the Moscow multilateral talks, citing the lack of progress with Israel.
Barak maintains he will detail the Golan pullout he foresees only after Damascus has disclosed its view of normalized relations and peacetime security arrangements.
dailynews.yahoo.com |
