Last update - 00:00 16/02/2008
PMO negotiations staff to meet for first time Sunday in J'lem
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
The Prime Minister's Office negotiations staff entrusted with conducting peace talks with the Palestinian Authority will meet for the first time in Jerusalem on Sunday in order to outline the civilian aspects of the negotiations.
The negotiations staff will be headed by Israel Defense Forces Brigadier-General Udi Dekel, and will include senior officials from the Defense Ministry, the Treasury, the Environment Ministry, the Public Security Ministry, the Justice Ministry, and the National Infrastructure Ministry. The team will seek to form work groups that will be tasked with tackling the civilian aspects of the negotiations.
Dekel is expected to invite civilian experts from the relevant government ministries to the talks in an effort to formulate Jerusalem's starting positions in the negotiations. The team will focus on administrative work dealing with the core issues of the conflict - Jerusalem, refugees, and borders - as well as matters including security arrangements, water, infrastructure, environmental issues, the judiciary system, and economic ties between Israel and the forthcoming Palestinian state.
The Israeli team's objective is to designate a working staff for each issue as it relates to the civilian day-to-day matters in talks with the Palestinians. The staff negotiations are meant to commence soon, however a final decision on the matters has yet to be made with the Palestinians.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet later this week as part of their regular follow-up discussions regarding the final-status negotiations being held in parallel. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is heading those talks for Israel opposite top Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia. Livni and Qureia are due to meet at least twice during the upcoming week.
While the "core issues" teams headed by Livni and Qureia continue their talks "in secret," Israel would like the staff teams' negotiations to attract more media coverage so as to build momentum and demonstrate the progression of the peace process.
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