RAMALLAH: A senior Palestinian official has denied Israeli media reports that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has secretly met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
“(These reports) claim that there is an ongoing political process and that the Palestinian position is divided,” Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Yasser Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio on Thursday.
Several Israeli media outlets had earlier reported that Abbas met Barak in Jordan on Sunday en route to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Abed Rabbo reiterated that the Palestinians could only restart peace talks when Israel stops introducing new settlements and endorses a two-state solution.
The Jerusalem Post daily quoted diplomatic officials claiming that Barak had spoken to Abbas this week, although they said contact had been made via telephone.
According to the newspaper, reporters in the Israeli Knesset cafeteria had asked Barak where he had been recently. The minister refused to answer, although he later expressed confidence that the Benjamin Netanyahu government would succeed in moving the peace process forward.
The Defense Ministry also declined to comment when asked about Barak’s whereabouts, although security officials hinted that he had either gone to Jordan or India with National Security Adviser Uzi Arad.
The possibility of Barak’s meeting with Abbas is intriguing amid mounting US pressure on the Palestinian leader to meet with Netanyahu and restart peace negotiations.
Abbas told Haaretz last month that he had spoken to Barak twice in recent weeks.
