SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, 22 May 2006 — Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni yesterday met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum — the first high-level contact the Palestinian president had had with an Israeli official since Hamas took office. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert “sees no reason not to hold a future meeting with Abbas,” Livni said after the meeting.
Olmert had been widely expected to meet with Abbas after the Israeli leader’s talks this week in Washington with US President George W. Bush, but Livni’s comments were the firmest indication yet that such a meeting would take place.
“The idea as we agreed here is to prepare more for such a meeting,” Livni added. She and Abbas will hold further talks. “It seems to me that this is not the last meeting; it certainly shouldn’t be, and that is the understanding between us,” Livni said. Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Abbas, said, “It was a good and positive meeting” and that more would be held.
Officials traveling with Livni said the talks were mainly an effort to avert a humanitarian crisis in Palestinian territories which have been hit by an economic boycott of Hamas rather than a bid to renew peace talks. During the meeting, Israel’s Cabinet agreed to release 50 million shekels ($11.18 million) in frozen funds to hospitals in a bid to ease a deepening fiscal crisis in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who also held talks with Abbas, said: “Israel has agreed to release partial funds on humanitarian grounds.” The Israeli action was seen as the result of pressure from the outside world.
Addressing a press conference late Saturday with Abbas by his side, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said Palestinians should not be punished “simply because they elected a government of their choice.” Badawi said: “This is the toughest time in the history of the Palestinians. They should not be made to suffer simply because they elected a government of their choice. We have to respect their choice. The people should not be made to suffer,” he said in a voice choking with emotions.
