Israel, Palestinian Summit put off
Middle East Desk Report

GAZA CITY—The prospects of a summit this week between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas looked bleak Monday, after talks between top aides aimed at finalising the agenda broke up without agreement. Talks on the agenda were expected to resume on Monday, after chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and Sharon advisor Dov Weisglass failed in Tel Aviv on Sunday to iron out all the differences. “We agreed on some points but there are some other points over which there are still differences,” Arakat told AFP, adding that the two had agreed to meet again on Monday. Sharon’s camp had been expecting the summit to take place Tuesday but the Israeli leader acknowledged there could be a further postponement.
“It is important to hold talks, but we cannot attend the meeting without adequate preparation,” Sharon told the weekly cabinet meeting. “Both sides are serious about having this meeting take place but as the prime minister has said, if it is not just going to be a photo-op, we’ve got to prepare it well so we can have decisions and agreements,” a senior Sharon aide told AFP after the Erakat-Weisglass meeting. Abbas himself agreed for the need for thorough preparations ahead of the talks, but said he hoped they would yield positive substance for both peoples. “We are ready to meet Sharon any time, but we want to be very well prepared for this meeting,” he said on his return from Gaza City. “After the meeting, we hope to be able to announce positive results which will give both sides hope for peace.” Sunday’s meeting followed similar preparatory talks on Friday about the summit in which the Palestinians are planning to demand Israel transfers control of more West Bank cities and releases prisoners. The Israeli side was expected to push the Palestinians to do more to rein in militants in the wake of rocket attacks which have continued despite Israel’s historic withdrawal from Gaza, which was completed on September 12. But Israeli officials said they were not expecting much from the summit. “Sharon is going to offer Abu Mazen (Abbas) a lot of carrots and eased restrictions — but on condition that he begins fighting terrorism,” one official told the Yediot Aharonot daily. Meanwhile, King Abdullah of Jordan pressed Israel and the Palestinians to build on recent peace moves, warning that the absence of a solution to the conflict would leave both parties back at square one, in comments to be published Monday in Jordanian daily Al-Rai.