PM: No Agreement of Principles at fall regional summit - Haaretz

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		Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attending a meeting of Kadima ministers Sunday. (Reuters)

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Last update - 19:28 16/09/2007

PM: No Agreement of Principles at fall regional summit

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Kadima Party ministers on Sunday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority will not present an Agreement of Principles on final status issues at a U.S.-hosted regional summit this coming fall, but will rather issue a joint declaration.

"There is a difference between an Agreement of Principles and a declaration that presents intentions," said the prime minister. Olmert and his aides have been making an ongoing attempt to lower expectations for the summit and negotiations with the PA.

"We are formulating a joint declaration, so that should there be a regional summit, it will headline the meeting," said Olmert.

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The Palestinians have been pushing hard for a detailed set of binding
principles that would guide peace talks. Without the outlines of a final peace deal, the Palestinians say, the conference will be a failure.

"If Olmert says there'll just be a declaration, it's not worth going to this meeting," said Nimr Hamad, an adviser to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

"I don't want to address the status of the declaration, but when it is reached I will present it to the cabinet," he added. "This won't be 'by the way' and there is no intention to hide [the declaration.] The Knesset can always request a debate on the issue, as well as the content of the declaration."

Olmert stressed that the negotiations with Abbas "do not contradict promises that were made prior to the elections."

"The agenda of this government since the day it was established has been to push toward taking advantage of opportunities to launch a peace process," he said. "We are examining whether or not a serious process is possible, which meets our expectations within the basic parameters of providing security to Israeli citizens. If we don't examine this, we will not be able to forgive ourselves."

Olmert asked the ministers to meet with their Palestinian counterparts in order to help normalize relations with the PA, listing the meetings held by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak as examples.

The prime minister added that the negotiating teams that will try to formulate the joint declaration will be comprised of representatives of the Prime Minister's Office, the Foreign Ministry, and the Defense Ministry.

Rice to arrive Tuesday
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will arrive on Tuesday for a round of talks in Israel and the PA to prepare for the Middle East peace summit scheduled for the second half of November.

Rice is expected to meet separately with Olmert and Abbas, who will report on the progress made in their talks over the past few weeks.

Officials in Jerusalem believe the U.S. administration wants to take the temperature ahead of the November conference. Rice, who will chair the event, seeks to get a feeling for the extent of Israeli and Palestinian flexibility in formulating the joint declaration before continuing her efforts to enlist the cooperation of senior Saudi and United Arab Emirates representatives in the summit. Washington has received reports of the Olmert-Abbas talks from aides and hangers-on; now it expects to receive first-hand reports.

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1.	Big Surprise - Just a photo-op	13:36	\|	spyguy	16/09/07

2.	Saudis won`t participate	13:52	\|	Axel	16/09/07

3.	Israel thinks this is like an orthodox divorce	14:40	\|	Tim	16/09/07

4.	A comedy or a tragedy?	14:40	\|	Tosefta	16/09/07

5.	The Lubavitcher Rebbe MHM: Israel gov. will want to give away...	15:19	\|	David	16/09/07

6.	Mubarak will save everyone	15:26	\|	Egyptian	16/09/07

7.	# 4 It`s actually both	15:50	\|	Kris	16/09/07

8.	remember sabra and shatila	16:01	\|	cristina	16/09/07

9.	forget it condi	16:05	\|	ravi	16/09/07

10.	A REGIONAL VALLEY	16:07	\|	Double Click	16/09/07

11.	Stand United	16:38	\|	Ardine	16/09/07

12.	Told you so..	17:03	\|	Joseph	16/09/07

13.	Told you so..	17:07	\|	Joseph	16/09/07

14.	Who Wanted top Postpone Summit ?	17:17	\|	GZLives	16/09/07

15.	To David # 5	17:19	\|	Choni Davidowitz	16/09/07

16.	Who Rejects Peace and SAYS SO OVER AND OVER	17:20	\|	GZLives	16/09/07

17.	make them make peace	17:20	\|	Space	16/09/07

18.	The quislings had better start to worry,since their collaboration	17:38	\|	lakshmi	16/09/07

19.	Not Hopeful///	18:42	\|	Joe	16/09/07

20.	Don`t Get It	18:44	\|	Abe	16/09/07

21.	6... egyptian	18:49	\|	ravi	16/09/07

22.	12...youre right but....	18:51	\|	ravi	16/09/07

23.	Not Even An Agreement To Agree	19:05	\|	chet	16/09/07

24.	Not a comedy or tragedy or photo op.....	19:22	\|	tadchase	16/09/07

25.	A certain kind of Comedy Tosefta	19:36	\|	Mark Lincoln	16/09/07

26.	Interesting regional summit, USA and Isreal but nobody else	19:37	\|	Petteri	16/09/07

27.	Listen to Bush`s address	20:31	\|	Mark Lincoln	16/09/07

28.	ravi - probably not and if they are	20:33	\|	Mark Lincoln	16/09/07

29.	Actually that isn`t so ravi	20:35	\|	Mark Lincoln	16/09/07

30.	tad chase, Mark Lincoln, Petteri of Finland	20:38	\|	akiva P	16/09/07

31.	A meaningless event made more meaningless	20:57	\|	Natallie Durson	16/09/07

32.	Would prefer an Agreement of Principles but it is a dilemma	21:24	\|	Smadar	16/09/07

33.	Not much can be done	21:43	\|	Natalie Durson	16/09/07

34.	Smadar elections will not help	21:57	\|	spyguy	16/09/07

35.	Smart Move	21:57	\|	Panther	16/09/07

36.	28mark Lincoln,what`s wrong with the Muslim Brotherhood,they	22:10	\|	lakshmi	16/09/07

37.	Lincoln`s History	23:42	\|	Panther	16/09/07

38.	32Smadar,there will be no deal from the israeli side because they	01:19	\|	lakshmi	17/09/07

39.	RAVI Is India up to resisting Moslem terrorists	01:19	\|	PETER S.M.	17/09/07

40.	SPYGUY.FATAH could not make peace& send suicide bombers	01:26	\|	PETER S .M.	17/09/07

41.	For #34 Spyguy - "Rational Jews"	02:16	\|	chet	17/09/07

42.	Stand by for the 3rd intifada	02:32	\|	Johnboy	17/09/07

43.	A Joint Declaration or an Agreement on Principles	03:28	\|	Otto Rand	17/09/07

44.	To GZ lives	03:39	\|	Otto Rand	17/09/07

45.	To Panthet for Hedera	03:47	\|	Otto Rand	17/09/07

46.	Lakshmi - I much rather secular politics	03:49	\|	Mark Lincoln	17/09/07

47.	I see the point was punctuated by two actions	03:53	\|	Mark Lincoln	17/09/07

48.	Otto Ranjd the Internationalist who will betray the Jews	04:53	\|	Panther	17/09/07

49.	#38 lakshmi re: Hamas`s current position	05:07	\|	Smadar	17/09/07

50.	To Otto Rand	05:08	\|	GZLives	17/09/07

51.	Johnboy	05:23	\|	GZLives	17/09/07

52.	No peace in mideast while Hamas exists!	06:00	\|	Voice of Reason	17/09/07

53.	Panther #48	06:37	\|	Otto Rand	17/09/07

54.	#51 That is a pointless point, GZLives Part 1	10:09	\|	Johnboy	17/09/07

55.	#51 GZLives misses the point Part 2	10:25	\|	Johnboy	17/09/07

56.	49Smadar,Hamas agreed to the Mecca Summit and agreed to let abbas	07:15	\|	lakshmi	18/09/07

57.	46Mark Lincoln,agreed that America would want to overthrow a	07:17	\|	lakshmi	18/09/07

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