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Israel Urged to Resume Peace Talks From Point of "Breakoff"
A senior Palestinian official here on Monday urged Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon to resume Palestinian-Israeli negotiations from the point where they had broken off, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, advisor to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said that the two sides should "stick to reached accords and resume the peace talks from where they were left off," referring to the latest peace talks with outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's government in Egypt's Sinai resort town of Taba in later January.
The two sides concluded the marathon talks on January 27 by issuing a joint statement, in which both said that they were never closer to a deal to resolve their decades-old conflict and agreed to continue the talks after Israel's prime ministerial election.
Abu Rudeina said that Arafat met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Monday morning, discussing the latest situation in the Middle East and coordinating stances towards the developments following Sharon's election.
Arafat arrived here Sunday night and the visit was a "beginning" of a Palestinian political drive at Arab and international levels, aimed at dealing with changes in the region, Abu Rudeina added.
Abu Rudeina criticized Sharon's advisor who threatened to arrest Arafat, saying that these statements were "irresponsible" and only led to intensified tension in the region.
Sharon, leader of Israeli hawkish right-wing Likud party, won a crushing victory over Barak in last Tuesday's prime ministerial election, casting a shadow over the future of the Mideast peace process that was launched in Madrid, Spain, in 1991.
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