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Israeli Negotiators Leave for Peace Talks in Washington
An Israeli negotiation team for talks with the Palestinians on the final-status issues left for Washington Sunday afternoon.
The team, headed by Israeli Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, will resume the talks Monday with their Palestinian counterparts, led by Palestinian Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), at an undisclosed location near the American capital, Israeli officials said.
Most of the negotiators, including Ben-Ami and Qurei, had participated in the so-called Stockholm back-channel talks, which were revealed by media reports in May.
They are aiming to resolve thorny issues between them such as the fate of Jerusalem, the return of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements, border, security and water, hoping to reach a framework agreement and a final accord by September.
The Washington round of negotiations was secured by visiting U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during her meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last Tuesday.
Arafat himself will go to Washington on June 14 to have a summit with U.S. President Bill Clinton to prepare for a three-way meeting between Clinton, Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the end of June or early July.
At the same time, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and his Israeli counterpart Oded Eran, who now concentrated their efforts on the interim issues, were also ready to resume their talks in the region this week.
Israel Radio Sunday quoted Erekat as saying that in an understanding having been reached with Israelis, all remaining 1,600 Palestinians in Israeli prisons will be released once a framework agreement is signed.
In response, however, Barak's spokesman Gadi Baltiansky clarified that Israel's position remains at the current stage that all prisoners involved in killing Israelis will not be released.
Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin also told Israel Radio that the prisoners issue is still being negotiated and he never heard a promise to release all Palestinian security prisoners.
But the minister suggested the situation may change if the Israeli-Palestinian peace process reaches a permanent accord on the final-status issues.
Once there is a permanent solution, the prisoners issue will be dealt with differently than in the interim period, he said.
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