Palestinian-Israeli Talks End, Without BreakthroughThe Palestinians and Israel ended a new round of talks early Friday, January 12, without reaching a breakthrough, but both sides agreed to continue negotiations in the next few days.Danny Yatom, security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, told Israeli Army Radio that the result of the meeting, held at Erez Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, was not unexpected due to the wide differences between the two sides. Palestinian chief negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio that there was an agreement to hold further meetings in the coming period. A US peace plan was at the center of the meeting, which began late Thursday night, according to informed Palestinian sources. The peace plan was raised to the Palestinians and Israel by outgoing US President Bill Clinton on December 23 as his last effort to try to hammer out a peace deal between the two sides before he leaves office on January 20. Under the compromise plan, the Palestinians would establish a state on all of the Gaza Strip and 95 percent of the West Bank. They would have the sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods and the Al Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem. But the right to return of most Palestinian refugees would be denied. According to the Palestinian sources, during the second high-level meeting in three weeks, both sides also discussed ways to end the violence between Israeli troops and the Palestinians. They also said that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held a telephone conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, during which the two exchanged views on the latest development. It was reported that Arafat will meet with Israeli Regional Cooperation minister Shimon Peres at Gaza later Friday. |
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