An official Israeli statement issued Saturday night after a meeting between U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that a high-ranking trilateral meeting would be held Sunday, after which they hoped that an official cease-fire would be declared and the implementation of the Tenet plan would begin.
"Tomorrow a three-way meeting will be coordinated involving the senior echelons on both sides headed by Prime Minister Sharon for the purpose of bringing about a declaration of a cease-fire between the two sides and the implementation of the Tenet proposals," the Israeli statement said.
According to Haaretz, Sharon will attend the meeting as Israel's representative and Zinni will represent the United States. It is not yet certain who the Palestinian official will be.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Saturday evening that Israel had told Zinni that it would no longer initiate any Israeli operations against the Palestinians and would not respond to Palestinian attacks against Israel. At a press conference in Tel Aviv, Peres claimed that Israel said that it would only take actions against the PA in the cases of what he has in the past referred to as "walking time-bombs."
The Israeli foreign minister added that local level security talks would begin "very soon" in order to enable the Israeli army to withdraw from Palestinian-controlled Area A, areas where the PA will take responsibility to keep the peace.
Peres said that foreign observers could start to operate only after an agreement was reached between both sides and only if the Palestinian side agreed to set up a central authority to take responsibility for actions carried out in its territory.
Earlier Saturday, Zinni met with Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah for the second time since arriving Thursday.
Zinni also met Saturday with senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, Palestinian Parliament speaker Ahmed Qurei and information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo in Ramallah. Nabil Amr, Palestinian minister for parliamentary affairs, said the group was seeking a US guarantee that Israel stays out of Palestinian areas, with the possibility of sending in international observers.
Erekat told CNN television Saturday that the Palestinians had impressed on Zinni the need for Israel to "pull out of all re-occupied areas" and for a two-pronged approach to resolving the crisis.
"We cannot work security aspects in isolation from the political track or the political vision, and what we are trying really to institute here is that the political track and the security track will work in parallel," Erekat said.
Palestinian officials said they would not hold cease-fire talks with Israel until its troops had left all Palestinian-controlled areas.
Four Killed
Meanwhile, four Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops Saturday, three at a roadblock in the Gaza Strip and the other in the West Bank.
The three men were shot dead as they approached an Israeli post close to the Gaza settlement of Neztarim, Israel Radio reported.
Mohammed Da'ana, 26, was killed Saturday in the West Bank city of Hebron. Da'ana's family claimed that the soldiers shot him at a checkpoint, whereas the Israeli army said he was killed while driving his car in an Israeli-controlled section of the city while it was under curfew. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
