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Israeli and Palestinian Chief Negotiators to Meet
Israeli Acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami will meet with Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) Wednesday night at an undisclosed location, Israeli Foreign Ministry officials said.
The officials refused to reveal the exact agenda of the meeting, only said that Ben-Ami, a dovish politician who succeeded former Foreign Minister David Levy last Thursday, will also meet Palestinian Gaza Preventive Security Service Chief Mohammed Dahlan on Wednesday.
Ben-Ami and Qurei have been acting as chief negotiators on the final-status issues since the so-called back-channel talks in Stockholm in May, which laid the foundation for last month's ill-fated Camp David summit attended by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and US President Bill Clinton.
Wednesday's meeting will be the first meeting between the two chief negotiators since the Camp David talks that foundered over the status of Jerusalem. Both Israel and the Palestinians want the holy city as their capital.
Analysts in Jerusalem predicted that the meeting may prepare for a second three-way summit ahead of the September 13 deadline set by Israel and the Palestinians for a final peace agreement.
On Tuesday, Ben-Ami told his Labor party colleagues that a second trilateral summit meeting is possible next month.
Ben-Ami, who just returned form visits to a series of countries to explain Israeli position in the peace talks, said to ensure the success of another summit, the two sides should reach a "preagreement," clarifying their positions at first.
Tuesday evening, Barak told Gondoleeza Rice, senior aide of US Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, that he hopes the Palestinians will show more flexibility and openness in the talks.
"Time is very short and we are at a very sensitive stage and based on this I hope that logic will win," Barak emphasized.
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