Palestinian President Yasser Arafat had dinner with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Monday, in a meeting brokered by the European Union (EU) aimed at getting Mideast peace negotiations back on track, said reports.
The 90-minute dinner took place at the office of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose country now holds the EU presidency, reported AP.
The two leaders last held substantive peace talks on September 26, according to CNN, when they discussed terms to implement a Mideast ceasefire that subsequently failed to hold.
EU security chief Javier Solana also attended the dinner, as well as EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten and Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, said the agency.
Officials said Verhofstadt asked Peres and Arafat to commit to new peace talks but gave no further details. Israeli officials would only say the meeting was not a negotiating session, added AP.
CNN reported that Peres was downplaying prospects for the meeting with Arafat even before the dinner, saying: "Just because we meet doesn't mean that all our problems are suddenly resolved."
The Palestinian president and Israeli foreign minister shook hands and met briefly in Spain on the sidelines of a weekend economic conference both men attended, but no advances in the peace process were reported as a result.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve the latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation have taken on a new urgency since the Sept. 11 suicide attacks in the US, with American officials pressuring for calm in the Mideast to facilitate its anti-terror war.
ISRAEL TO WAIT ON JENIN PULLBACK
While diplomats worked to patch up the Mideast peace process, conflicts continued on the ground.
Israel halted a planned withdrawal of its armed forces from the West Bank town of Jenin after a bomb exploded in a Jewish settlement Monday, said reports.
Israeli officials stressed, however, that the army still intended leave Jenin and two other towns it re-occupied nearly three weeks ago to root out Palestinian fighters, as long as the Palestinian Authority ensures calm in those areas, reported AP.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for planting the bomb, which exploded in a factory cafeteria, wounding three people in the settlement of Shaked, six miles west of Jenin, said the agency.
Earlier, over 20 Israeli tanks withdrew from the town of Qalqilya, but pulled back only a few hundred yards from Palestinian territory, said AP. Qalqilya is on the edge of the West Bank, next to Israel.
Over 700 Palestinians and over 190 Israelis have been killed in the latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli occupation, according to news agencies - Albawaba.com
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