Palestinian, Israeli Officials Meet on Reviving Peace TalksSenior Israeli and Palestinian officials met late Saturday as part of the underway contacts between the two sides to revive the Palestinian-Israeli talks, Israel radio reported.The meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak's senior advisor Gilad Sher on the one side, and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and chief of the Palestinian Preventive Security in Gaza Strip Col. Mohammad Dahlan on the other, was held at an undisclosed location in Israel. Ben-Ami met late Thursday night with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at the Erez checkpoint between Gaza and Israel and discussed ways of returning to the negotiating table. During their four-hour talks, Arafat hoped a final status agreement can be reached before U.S. President Bill Clinton leaves office in January next year. Also on Saturday, Erekat said that the Palestinian side wants to hold a summit with Israel and the United States to reach an accord on the final status of the Palestinian territories. Palestinian and Israeli officials have resumed contacts since last week which had stopped by the ongoing bloody clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces that broke out on September 28. |
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