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Palestinians Ready to Resume Peace Talks Immediately
The Palestinian Authority has said it is ready to resume peace negotiations immediately -- on condition that the Israeli delegation has a mandate to conclude an agreement.
In a statement issued late Wednesday, the Authority said it "is ready to continue the talks from Wednesday or Thursday if the Israeli leadership makes the decision" and mandates a delegation to take part, according to the official WAFA news agency.
However Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami said that a final accord was not currently on the agenda.
"The objective of such a meeting cannot be the conclusion of an accord but to ensure the future by specifying the basis of the negotiations and stabilising the security situation," he said.
Sweden emerged as a possible venue for a snap Arab-Israeli summit that would try to lock in gains in the Middle East peace process before next Tuesday's Israeli elections.
EU foreign policy high representative Javier Solana, speaking in the European Parliament in Brussels, said "very intensive" contacts were currently underway to get a summit off the ground.
"It's possible we might have a final summit before the elections on February 6," Solana said. "It's possible for such a summit to be held in Europe."
Diplomatic sources in Brussels said a summit could be held either in Stockholm -- capital of Sweden, which took over the rotating EU presidency on January 1 -- or somewhere in Egypt.
Solana acknowledged, however, that the chances of attaining anything more were virtually nil. "I'm not so optimistic," he told European parliamentarians. "The time-frame is not ideal."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, his political fortunes in tatters because of the deadly violence that has engulfed the region for four months, has said he may consider meeting Arafat in a last-ditch bid for progress on the peace front that could boost his election prospects before the February 6 poll.
But latest opinion polls showed his hawkish opponent Ariel Sharon with a commanding lead in the lacklustre campaign. Barak is facing mounting pressure from within his own Labour party to stand down in favour of Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres, deemed to have a far better chance of beating Sharon.
Barak called a halt to the negotiations until after the election following the failure of a marathon round of talks in Egypt to forge an accord.
The talks ended in Taba, Egypt on Saturday without agreement but both sides said they were closer than ever to an accord.
However the death toll from Israeli-Palestinian clashes continued to rise Wednesday with the killing of a Palestinian taxi driver by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip.
His death brought to 389 the number of people killed in the bloodletting which has swept the region since late September.
Separately, two Palestinians were wounded by shelling from Israeli tanks Wednesday night near the Karni crossing point from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Palestinian sources said.
"There are now no diplomatic negotiations, so the Palestinians have no incentives to foil terrorist attacks," chief of staff Shaul Mofaz was quoted as saying by the Haaretz. "In effect, there is no Palestinian (terror) prevention, period. This is a recipe for escalation, though it could take two or three weeks."
The pressure on Barak to step down in favour of Sharon was heightened by the fact that, under Israeli election law, a candidate has until four days before the election to drop out of the race.
The Haaretz newspaper said members of Barak's inner circle had stepped up efforts to convince him to drop out of the race in favor of Peres "in a last-ditch effort to save the peace and the Labour movement".
Barak vowed Tuesday he would not step aside.
A survey published by the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot found that 50 percent of Israelis would vote for Likud leader Sharon against 34 percent for Barak.
Another poll in the English language Jerusalem Post gave Sharon 49 percent and Barak 27 percent.
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