Palestinians: Security Meeting Postponed to Monday for ‘Technical Reasons’

Published June 17th, 2001 - 03:00 GMT

A meeting between Israeli and Palestinian security officials, due to take place Sunday to discuss further implementation of a US-brokered truce, will now be held on Monday, a top Palestinian official said.

"The meeting was postponed until tomorrow for technical reasons, because the American representative could not make it to today's meeting," Jibril Rjoub, head of preventive security in the West Bank, told reporters in Ramallah.

Rjoub had announced Saturday that a meeting would be held to work out a timetable for implementing measures under the ceasefire, including the lifting of the Israeli blockade on the occupied territories.

The two sides are supposed to hold regular meetings to assess progress on the truce brokered by US Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet that came into effect on Wednesday.

Israeli public radio also reported that the meeting would now take place on Monday, but there was no immediate official confirmation from the Israeli side.

Another Palestinian security official said however that it was possible that lower-level meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials could take place in the Gaza Strip to discuss the situation on the ground -- RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP)