Uncertainty Remains in Israeli-palestinian Talks: BarakIt is still not clear whether Israel could reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians during the coming several months, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told his cabinet on Monday.There have been neither positive responses nor signals from the Palestinian side and it is still uncertain whether the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks could be moved forward or the two sides could strike a deal in a very short period of time, Barak said. However, Barak did not say what measures he will take to push the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks forward. Barak blamed the Palestinian side for the failure of the the Camp David summit in July, saying Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has been refusing to make compromise on the key issues, particularly the Jerusalem issue, which hinders the two sides from striking a deal in the final-status talks. Low-level Israeli and the Palestinian negotiators met again on Monday in a secret location in Israel to discuss the peace process, but nothing has been announced. The Palestinian side suggested over the weekend that the peace talks be restarted as soon as possible with the participation of the full Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams as well as United States officials. Under this proposal, Barak and Arafat would intervene in the talks as necessary, while U.S. President Bill Clinton would become involved if the negotiators failed to make progress. Palestinian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nabil Shaath said on Sunday in Washington that the U.S. was preparing a document which would summarize the conclusions reached at the Camp David and could serve as the basis for the renewed negotiations. But Israeli officials said on Sunday that Barak would be reluctant to send high-level negotiators for more talks if the goal is less than a comprehensive agreement that would also resolve the issue of Jerusalem. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed by the Jewish regime, to be the capital of their future independent state. But Israel insists that Jerusalem is its "eternal and undivided" capital. |
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