Abbas to tell Livni: Gov't will recognize agreements

Palestinian president to promise foreign minister, senior US officials that new Palestinian unity government will recognize past agreements, Saudi peace initiative and that he will remain in charge of diplomacy

Ali Waked |Last update: 09.18.06 , 10:34

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to meet Monday evening with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the United Nations general assembly session in New York.

Abbas will also meet with senior American officials, who are concerned over the platform of the new unity government, which is about to be established in the Palestinian Authority by Hamas and Fatah.

Palestinian sources told Ynet that during the meetings their president would commit that every government established would recognize the agreements signed with Israel and adopt the Arab peace initiative, thereby implicitly recognizing Israel.

Even if a unity government is set up, Abbas will tell Livni, that peace negotiations will be under his authority and will be held based on previous agreements.

Abbas is expected to ask the Bush administration to apply pressure on Israel to revive peace talks with the Palestinians.

Emergency cabinet

Abbas aides said if talks with Hamas over a unity government fail, he will absolve the government and form an emergency cabinet.

Livni will press Abbas for information on the fate to kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit and will discuss a possible prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian president.

The meeting is seen as a prelude to a Palestinian-Israeli summit during which Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet.

Former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei is in Damascus for talks with Syrian and Hamas leaders about talks on the formation of a national unity government.

President Bashar Assad and Vice President Farouk al-Sahraa said Damascus support the formation of a national unity government between Fatah and Hamas.

Leaders of Palestinian factions will meet in Damascus next week for talks on the formation of a national unity government.

A busy agenda awaits foreign minister Livni who is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, her Argentine, South Korean and Egyptian counterparts, the Finnish and Latvian Presidents and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.