RAMALLAH, West Bank, 11 November 2003 — Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said yesterday he would meet Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon if assured of moves to revive a US-backed peace plan stymied by intractable violence.
Aides to Qorei, whose new Cabinet is set for a parliamentary confidence vote on Wednesday, said he wanted pledges from Israel before a meeting to lift blockades on Palestinian towns and observe a truce he seeks to secure from Palestinian militants.
“For the meeting with Sharon to occur, it must be well prepared for in advance and we must agree on (what) will result from that meeting in advance, so we can break the current peace deadlock,” Qorei told Reuters.
“Officials from both sides are still discussing the issues to pave the way for the meeting. No agreement has been reached yet but if it is, Sharon and Abu Ala could meet soon,” said a Palestinian official, using Qorei’s nom de guerre.
Qorei had sent his office director Hassan Abu Libdeh to meet Sharon’s chief of staff Dov Weisglass to prepare for talks, he added. Israeli officials confirmed contacts were under way. Abu Libdeh told Reuters: “Abu Ala does not want meetings for the sake of meeting. He wants results.”
The “road map” initiative unveiled by US President George W. Bush in June requires Palestinians to halt militant attacks and Israel to pull back forces in occupied territory to pave the way for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The mistrustful sides are at odds over who should take what step first, paralyzing the process with Washington preoccupied by Iraq and the start of its 2004 election campaign. Israel says it cannot remove blockades for fear a wave of suicide bombings would resume and has kept up raids for wanted militants. Palestinians say such pressure amounts to collective punishment fuelling popular support for anti-road map militants.
In Gaza City, Palestinian police fired in the air to scatter hundreds of women and children protesting at a freezing of Islamist bank accounts by Qorei’s predecessor Mahmoud Abbas on suspicion that they were used to fund militant violence.
Islamist officials said the money supported charities aiding the growing ranks of Palestinian poor. “Do not confiscate our bread,” read banners carried by the demonstrators.
In another development, Palestinians said a proposed prisoner swap between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance group would be meaningless if it excluded militant compatriots serving long terms in Israeli jails.
Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday approved trading 400 Lebanese and Palestinians for an Israeli businessman and the bodies of three soldiers but refused to free anyone involved in killing Israelis as Hezbollah demands, putting the deal in doubt. Israel has jailed thousands of Palestinians since they launched an uprising in 2000.
