Sharon, Abbas Likely to Meet on Monday or Tuesday: Palestinian Official

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, May 26, 2003

Sharon, Abbas Likely to Meet on Monday or Tuesday: Palestinian Official

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

After the Israeli cabinet approved on Sunday the US-backed roadmap peace plan, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas are expected to meet on Monday or on Tuesday, a Palestinian official said.

The official, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, told Xinhua that after the Israeli government approved the peace plan, "Sharon and Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) might meet tomorrow on Monday in Jerusalem."

The official said the second meeting between the two men is aimed to study the implementation of the plan, and discuss the timetable and the mechanism of the implementation.

He said the two leaders are planning to discuss the resumption of peace negotiations that had stopped more than two years ago, after the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, broke out in late September 2000.

Meanwhile, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a top aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said Israel's acceptance of the roadmap plan needs its commitments to full implementation of it without any reservations.

He told Xinhua that the most important thing is to stop "aggression, lift the siege and closure imposed on the Palestinian people and their leadership."

Palestinian Minister of Negotiations Affairs Yasser Abed Rabbo also called on Israel to respect the roadmap peace plan and implement it fully.

"After the plan was accepted by both sides, what is needed now is to rebuild the lost trust between the two sides and open a new page in the relationship between the two sides," said Rabbo.

He called on the Israeli government to issue a final statement and officially announce that the Israeli government accepts the roadmap peace plan, and then issue a joint declaration by both sides to end violence.

Abbas and Sharon held meeting in Jerusalem last Saturday, which was the first highest-level Israeli-Palestinian meeting since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000.

The meeting focused on the international-backed roadmap peace plan peace, which calls for the end of bloodshed between the Palestinians and Israel and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state by 2005.

However, during the meeting, Abbas failed to convince Sharon to accept the roadmap.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Powell to Urge Israel, Palestinians to Implement Roadmap Peace Plan

Roadmap amendment might foil Abbas-Sharon meeting: PNA minister

Israeli Cabinet Approves Roadmap after Fierce Debate

Chinese Crack Down on Public Spitting ( 2 Messages)

United States Afraid of its Own Shadow: Mahathir ( 8 Messages)

Int'l Community Aids China's SARS-control ( 6 Messages)

BBC Leader Criticizes US Coverage of War against Iraq ( 17 Messages)

US Interference in China's Internal Affairs Doomed to Failure: FM Spokeswoman ( 7 Messages)