Sharon-Abbas summit postponed
Summit pushed back to late October or early November; Palestinians say delay due to Israel’s refusal to discuss issues pertaining to Palestinian prisoners, Israeli withdrawals from Palestinian towns
The summit between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, which was scheduled for this Tuesday, has been pushed back to late October or early November, when Abbas is due back from a trip to the U.S.
The Palestinians demanded that the summit deal with burning issues, such as the Palestinian prisoners and Israeli withdrawals from West Bank towns, but government officials said it was too early to make such promises.
According to Palestinian sources, holding a summit at this stage would be futile in light of the fact that Israel has Israel refused all their demands.
However, deliberations between the sides are expected to continue deliberations in preparation for the summit.
'Mob-like atmosphere'
The U.S. and Jordan encouraged the sides to hold the summit on schedule as part of their effort to jumpstart the diplomatic process in the region following Israel’s disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
In the past few days Sharon’s top aide Dov Weisglass and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat have held a number of meetings ahead of the planned summit.
Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said that during these meetings the sides expressed their commitment to the implementation of the Sharm el-Sheikh and Road Map agreements and to end the violence.
The Israeli and Palestinian negotiators discussed the Rafah border crossing, the movement of people and goods between Gaza and the West Bank and between the PA and Israel. The sides also discussed the status of the West Bank areas that were evacuated by Israel, as well as the issue of the Gaza airport.
It was decided that the joint committees and Israeli and Palestinian leaders would convene regularly in a bid to settle the disagreements through negotiations. Israel made it clear that it intends to initiate humanitarian and economic concessions for the Palestinian population, but these concessions have not been finalized as of yet.
Time Magazine recently painted a grim picture of the situation in Gaza, describing the atmosphere of threat and extortions as mob-like.
Diana Bahur-Nir and Yitzhak Benhorin contributed to the story
