Abbas to hit Sharon with demands at ME summit
Foreign Desk Report

GAZA CITY—Mahmud Abbas said he would bombard Ariel Sharon with demands at a forthcoming Middle East summit as Israel seeks to bolster the Palestinian leader in his efforts to rein in Islamist militants. Likely to precede separate talks between the Palestinian leader and US President George W. Bush on October 20 at the White House, confusion remains over the date of the meeting, casting doubt over the level of organisation.
Although Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Palestinian and Israeli officials said Abbas and Sharon would meet next Tuesday, Abbas said the date was still open. “The date has not yet been decided,” he told reporters in Gaza City. “When the date is fixed, we will have a lot of demands,” he added. Nevertheless, Abbas said he will use their third summit since they declared an end to years of violence last February, to ask Sharon to release Palestinian prisoners and withdraw troops from towns in the West Bank.
He said the twin principles of freeing detainees and transferring security in five West Bank towns was agreed in Egypt. In the eight months since, Israel released around 900 prisoners and handed over Jericho and Tulkarem to the Palestinians, but froze transfers in Bethlehem, Ramallah and Qalqilya amid security concerns.
Abbas also said he would demand that Sharon halt settlement activity and the building of the controversial security barrier in the West Bank. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was willing to use the summit to consider improvements to Palestinian life, such as lifting roadblocks and allowing more workers into Israel. “Any gesture on our part which could ease the daily life of the Palestinians without endangering our security may be considered,” he said. The summit will replace a meeting scheduled for October 2 that was cancelled following an escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip.
A round of deadly Israeli air strikes and militant rocket attacks, which Abbas proved powerless of bringing to an end, shook international hopes for a breakthrough in the peace process after Israel’s historic pullout from Gaza. In exchange for goodwill gestures, Olmert said Israel will press home demands that the Palestinian Authority dismantle and disarm militant factions. Abbas on Thursday reiterated calls on Palestinian movements to stop carrying weapons in public and internal fighting in the Gaza Strip.