Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was meeting in Gaza Wednesday afternoon with the US Consul in Jerusalem, reported Radio Israel. Meanwhile, Secretary of Fateh movement in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouthi, was simultaneously meeting with the deputy consul.
There were no immediate details on the meetings, but it is expected they came in the wake of the Israeli elections and the landslide win of right wing leader Ariel Sharon on Tuesday.
President Arafat has said that he respects the Israeli choice of Sharon, while his aides and the Arab states received Sharon’s victory with caution and pessimism.
Bargouthi and other Intifada leaders threatened to escalate the uprising, which has so far seen the death of more than 400 Palestinians and 50 Israelis.
Tuesday witnessed a rise in the tension and shootings of Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza, but no fatalities were reported.
Arafat will convene a meeting later this evening of the Palestinian cabinet to discuss the election results, according to Israel Radio.
In a related development, Fateh called on its leader Wednesday not to negotiate with Israel's right-wing prime minister-elect Ariel Sharon, and on the Palestinian people to resist him, according to AFP.
A statement said, the "Fateh High Council in the West Bank calls for an escalation of the Intifada and resistance to confront the indiscriminate butcher Sharon."
Fateh has played a leading role in the Intifada, which began after Sharon paid a controversial visit to Arab east Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound in September.
"We call on the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization not to hold any contacts or negotiations with Sharon.
"We also ask our Arab brothers not to receive Sharon at any Arab capital and to impose international and Arab isolation on him.
"We say to Sharon and to the bands of fascists around him and those who think that this assassin can bring them security, he will drink from the goblet of defeat and his fall will have a loud echo," added the statement.
Next Friday has been declared "day of rage" by the leaders of the Intifada, a coalition of 13 opposition factions, in addition to Fateh – Albawaba.com.
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