GAZA CITY/RAMALLAH, 27 August 2007 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are expected to meet again this week, Palestinian sources said yesterday.
Abbas earlier said that the Palestinian Authority would not consent to population exchanges as part of a permanent agreement that would leave some settlement blocs with Israel.
The Palestinian president was referring to a proposal formulated by Israeli President Shimon Peres while he was still vice premier, in which Israel would transfer to the Palestinian state areas equivalent to 100 percent of the territories conquered in the June 1967 war.
The sources added that there has been little progress in Palestinian-Israeli talks toward drafting an agreement of principles ahead of a regional conference scheduled for November in the United States. Olmert and Abbas will ultimately decide the content of any such agreement, the sources estimated.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet President Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank on Sept. 16 in her latest visit to the region ahead of the international peace conference, a senior Palestinian official said yesterday. “Rice will meet with President Abbas on Sept. 16 in Ramallah,” the official said on condition of anonymity. The report could not be confirmed with US officials. Rice and Abbas last met in Ramallah on Aug. 2, when she said she would visit the region again before an international Middle East peace conference called for by US President George W. Bush this autumn.
Washington has increased its diplomatic efforts to jumpstart dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks since Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in mid-June, ousting forces loyal to Abbas and cleaving the Palestinians into two entities.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers arrested six Palestinian youths trying to cross the border security fence from the northern Gaza Strip yesterday. The youths were taken for questioning. Israeli Army sources believe that the six were sent to gather information.
On Saturday two Palestinian fighters managed with the help of the morning fog to infiltrate the security fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The two fighters exchanged fire with the Israeli soldiers before being shot dead. One Israeli soldier was lightly wounded in the attack.
Israeli daily, Yediot Aharonot reported yesterday that the army has been investigating Saturday’s incident and military sources said that despite the fact that the incident ended well, enhancing security at the fence should be considered since there is not detection of human contact in the area.
“Terror organizations are constantly seeking a week point in our defense system,” an army source said,” Yesterday they tried to turn the wall, which is meant to be an obstacle, into an advantage. We will know how to draw the right conclusions.”
A number of Israeli ministers called on Olmert during the weekly Cabinet meeting to invade the Gaza Strip and resume targeted assassinations.
Also yesterday, Israeli warplanes carried out an air raid in the northern Gaza Strip without causing casualties, Palestinian officials said. Witnesses reported a strike on a rocket launcher near the northern town of Beit Hanoun. Medics said no one was wounded in the explosion. An Israeli Army spokesman confirmed that the military had carried out an “aerial attack,” without elaborating.
— With input from agencies
