Israeli and Palestinian officials resumed talks Saturday night on improving life for Palestinians, negotiations that were broken off after 12 Israeli residents were killed in attacks that also prompted Israel to freeze plans to relax restrictions on Palestinian territories.
The talks between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat opened late Saturday, an Israeli official said.
According to reports, Peres told Erekat that "terror" was delaying the improving of relations between Israel and the PA. After the three-hour meeting, Peres' bureau issued a statement saying that the Palestinian delegation talked about the difficult situation in the territories and said that the Palestinian Authority was determined to rehabilitate itself as a ruling body.
In the meeting, Peres presented the steps Israel was willing to make to ease the economic situation in the PA territories. Further meetings will be held in the coming days between the Israeli and Palestinian delegations as well as lower level work meetings.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement Saturday that Ariel Sharon allowed Peres to discuss only immediate problems such as easing restriction on the Palestinian population and giving economic and humanitarian aide.
Israeli Cabinet Minister Dani Naveh, who also participated, said earlier in the day that the aim was to improve the humanitarian situation of Palestinians, whose economy has been shattered by nearly 22 months of fighting.
Naveh, a member of the hawkish Likud party, said the Israeli government agreed the Palestinian economic situation had to improve — but he emphasized that aid must not be used to fund “terror” attacks.
"The guiding line is that aid to the population is something which has to be done, but financing the agencies of the Palestinian Authority which are involved in terrorism must not happen under any circumstances," he told Israel Radio.
Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat met earlier in Ramallah with members of the Palestinian negotiations team to formulate a unified stance prior to the scheduled meeting.
According to Palestinian sources, the PA delegation included also Finance Minister Salam Fayad, Interior Minister Abdel Razzek al-Yehiye, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Maher al-Masri and Minister of Civil Affairs, Jamil Tarifi, Israel Radio reported Saturday.
An aide to Arafat, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said success in the meetings would be contingent on Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank towns and cities it occupied a month ago, after a string of attacks. "I believe if Israel is really serious in the resumption of the political process they have first to immediately withdraw from the Palestinian territories," he told reporters in Ramallah after Arafat met with Russian envoy Andre Vedovin.
The Palestinians have demanded Israeli forces withdraw from the West Bank, saying their presence makes it impossible for Palestinians to do their part to prevent militants from attacking.
Meanwhile, Head of the Israel’s Prime Minister's Office, Dov Weissglass, and former military advisor to the prime minister, Major General Moshe Kaplinsky, were due to depart Saturday evening for the United States. Israel Radio reported that the two would meet with National Security Advisor Codoleezza Rice and other senior American officials to discuss reforms in the Palestinian Authority.
The meeting with Rice will be the third for these two Sharon envoys since the prime minister's last visit to the U.S.
Separately Saturday, a car exploded in an Arab neighborhood of Tel Aviv, killing the driver. Police initially said the blast in Jaffa was a bomb that went off prematurely. But late Saturday, police spokesman Yossi Avneri said the explosion may have been the work of common criminals — not Palestinian activists. (Albawaba.com)
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