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PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (L) and PM Ehud Olmert under the prime minister's sukkah in Jerusalem on Wednesday. (GPO)
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PA: Mideast summit should set 6-month deadline for peace deal
By Barak Ravid, Aluf Benn and Avi Isaacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and the Associated Press

The upcoming Middle East conference should set a six-month deadline for the completion of a final peace agreement, the Palestinian information minister said Thursday.

Palestinian Information Minister Riad Malki also reporters on Thursday that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas plans to submit any future deal to a referendum among Palestinians, including refugees residing abroad.

David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister's Office, said Israel is serious about negotiating a deal, but that this is not "merely a product of how much time elapses.

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Palestinian sources were quoted by Al-Quds newspaper Thursday as saying, however, that a final status agreement could only be reached after Israel holds elections, Israel Radio reported.

According to the report, the sources said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government is too weak to resolve the issues of Jerusalem and borders, even if the Palestinians agree to abandon demands for a right of return to Israel.

The newspaper printed the statements shortly after Olmert and Abbas met Wednesday and agreed to begin negotiations over a final status agreement after the Mideast peace conference scheduled to be held in Annapolis, Maryland in November.

The international forum, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, will mark "the launching of permanent-status negotiations in order to achieve the treaty of peace on all the core issues."

A senior official confirmed that the sides agreed to begin final status talks. "After the November conference, they will start to negotiate a final agreement but with no timetable," said the official.

In a two-hour meeting held at Olmert's official resident in Jerusalem, the leaders talked in broad terms about their vision for a peace deal, Israeli officials said, and asked drafting teams to start work next week on a joint declaration, ahead of the U.S.-hosted peace talks.

Abbas adviser Yasser Abed Rabbo said the joint document would be negotiated in secret and should serve as the basis both for the conference and subsequent negotiations over a final agreement for creating a Palestinian state.

The two sides are still far apart on how detailed the declaration should be. Abbas wants a detailed framework agreement that would address the big issues - Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, borders and Palestinian refugees. Olmert wants a shorter and vaguer guideline for future negotiations.

It was the leaders' sixth meeting in several months. "Today's discussions create a positive atmosphere for the upcoming international meeting," said David Baker, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office.

The two leaders decided that the drafting teams would start next week, and Abbas and Olmert would continue to meet twice a month, Baker said.

Abbas and three senior aides arrived at Olmert's official residence around noon Wednesday.

Olmert gave Abbas a brief tour of his sukkah, after which the two left their aides behind in a reception area, and held a private meeting in an adjacent office.

Following their face-to-face meeting, leaders briefed their negotiating teams on the aims of the joint declaration.

The meeting marks the start of the official negotiating process on the joint declaration, which to date has been held behind closed doors between Olmert and Abbas.

There are significant gaps between the two sides' starting positions, and a particularly bitter dispute revolves around the essence and substance of the joint declaration they are expected to draft. Olmert would like the declaration to be vague, while Abbas seek an explicit "framework" agreement with a timetable for final-status talks.

Olmert is now rejecting titles such as "declaration of principles" or "agreement of principles." Instead, he is proposing a general "declaration of interests" - a term that did not exist in previous negotiations - that would serve as a starting point for detailed negotiations to begin following the summit, which is scheduled to take place in Annapolis.

The Bush Administration may delay its planned international peace conference until late November, so that Olmert and Abbas will have more time to formulate a joint declaration.

Olmert is also demanding that the declaration include a reference to two previous documents: President George W. Bush's letter to prime minister Ariel Sharon on April 14, 2004, and the road map for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Bush letter to Sharon stated that the border between Israel and the future Palestinian state could not be identical to the 1949 armistice line (i.e. the Green Line), due to the presence of "Israeli population concentrations" in the West Bank. Israel interprets this as referring to the large West Bank settlement blocs. The letter also says the final border will be established by agreement, which Israel interprets as referring to territorial exchanges.

The road map lays out a three-stage program for establishing a Palestinian state, and states that in the first stage, the Palestinian Authority must wage war on terrorism and reform PA institutions, while Israel must remove all illegal outposts established in the West Bank since 2001.

Abbas and his supporters in the Palestinian leadership fear that the United States has adopted Israel's position on the issue of the declaration, and would prefer a general statement. The Palestinians are demanding a detailed document that includes clear references to all the "core issues" of a permanent settlement - borders, Jerusalem and refugees. The Palestinians would also like to see a clear timetable for implementing such a settlement.

According to sources who spoke with senior PA officials in recent days, the following are the main demands that Abbas will present at the start of negotiations:

* Settlements: Israel should declare an immediate freeze on construction in the settlements and quickly evacuate the outposts, as well as several settlements.

* Borders: The declaration should state that the future border will be based on the 1967 lines. Exchanges of territory will be limited to 2 or 3 percent of the West Bank in order to ensure territorial contiguity for the future Palestinian state and prevent the division of the West Bank into several cantons surrounded by settlements. The territory to be exchanged must be equal in quantity and quality.

According to another Palestinian proposal, instead of referring to borders, the declaration would refer to the area of the Palestinian state in the West Bank (about 6,500 square kilometers).

* Safe Passage: The Palestinian state should have a sovereign area that will be used for passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

* Jerusalem: East Jerusalem, including the Old City, should be the capital of the Palestinian state and under full Palestinian sovereignty.

* Refugees: Israel should recognize its responsibility for the suffering of the Palestinian refugees and compensate them.

However, several of these demands are unacceptable to Israel, and the major differences in the two sides' positions guarantees that the negotiations will be difficult and complicated.

(More about Israeli-Palestinian on Rosner's Domain)
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  1.   More Time for the Olmert Goverment To Sale Israel 03:30  |  ralphsrant1 03/10/07
  2.   Mideast Pow-Wow may be delayed 03:33  |  ottomatik 03/10/07
  3.   Why have this international meeting at all? 03:47  |  Tosefta 03/10/07
  4.   delay 04:01  |  Shmuelshachor 03/10/07
  5.   Olmert`s Gov`t will collapse before November 04:04  |  Mikhail 03/10/07
  6.   Now it`s "Intifada" if Israel doesn`t cave at the show 04:06  |  Avraham 03/10/07
  7.   occubier withdraws, pal state secures israeli boarders 04:30  |  bashar 03/10/07
  8.   delay it until shalit is free 05:43  |  real vision 03/10/07
  9.   DON`T JUST DELAY; TAKE BACK GAZA,PEACE AND SECURITY UPON ISRAEL)) 05:48  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 03/10/07
  10.   Delay gives the appearance of prolonged peace efforts 05:59  |  Natallie Durson 03/10/07
  11.   so finally Israel plays back the same way the Islamic play. 06:21  |  Me 03/10/07
  12.   May God hear you, Mikhail, but then what? 06:38  |  Fortuna Benmayor 03/10/07
  13.   There is an old addage in the advertising trade 06:40  |  Natallie Durson 03/10/07
  14.   Hamastan should be solved before summits 06:43  |  Fortuna Benmayor 03/10/07
  15.   What is Abbas committing to ? 06:45  |  redmike 03/10/07
  16.   Negotiations. 07:24  |  sandra chitayat 03/10/07
  17.   DELAY DOESN`T MEAN ANYHTING 07:33  |  indrajaya 03/10/07
  18.   Quisling Abbas Rewarded By His Israeli Friends 07:44  |  chet 03/10/07
  19.   Mideast summit may be delayed to end of November 07:58  |  Martin List,M.D. 03/10/07
  20.   #10- forget even the appearances 08:03  |  Michael N 03/10/07
  21.   Zionist bullshit plus... 08:30  |  Hannah 03/10/07
  22.   What are the Pals giving? 09:08  |  Raviv 03/10/07
  23.   Needle In A Haystack 09:12  |  Raviv 03/10/07
  24.   Time to visit the dentist 09:22  |  Clickfool 03/10/07
  25.   Abbas` general terms quite reasonable 09:27  |  Ivar 03/10/07
  26.   The Temple Mount should never have become an issue 09:29  |  Ivar 03/10/07
  27.   Mideast summit delayed, who cares! 09:43  |  JC 03/10/07
  28.   Ridiculous, Of course the `demands` are unacceptable to Israel... 10:33  |  Pavel 03/10/07
  29.   more lies to cover up 10:50  |  VIPER 03/10/07
  30.   # 22 Raviv @ Israel 10:59  |  Joseph E . 03/10/07
  31.   I PRAY that the summit will NOT take place! 11:09  |  Hard Talk 03/10/07
  32.   For Pavel # 28 11:14  |  Clickfool 03/10/07
  33.   IVAR, what are you trying to prove? 11:20  |  Hard Talk 03/10/07
  34.   australia 11:24  |  bruce 03/10/07
  35.   OLMERT, you have NO mandate from the people to sell out Israel ! 11:38  |  Hard Talk 03/10/07
  36.   # 21 raviv 11:53  |  Axel 03/10/07
  37.   Bush may NOT be let use Israel to get a "feather in his hat" ! 11:53  |  Hard Talk 03/10/07
  38.   #32 the yellow streak and more abject nonsense 11:54  |  victor hardman 03/10/07
  39.   Violence and threats of violence 12:02  |  Murray 03/10/07
  40.   Based on Haaretz quote " This will be the start of the official 12:15  |  Joseph E . 03/10/07
  41.   Reasonable and unreasonable 12:19  |  Murray 03/10/07
  42.   Nothing difficult and nothing has changed 12:35  |  Tamir Palestine 03/10/07
  43.   mideast cconference 12:37  |  iletzter 03/10/07
  44.   MURRAY in Italy; you´re darn right there is a difference 12:41  |  Hard Talk 03/10/07
  45.   HT first lost his Temple, and then his marbles 12:42  |  Ivar 03/10/07
  46.   IVAR, they are offering Israel a dagger to commit suicide! 12:52  |  Hard Talk 03/10/07
  47.   For Victor Hardman # 38 13:01  |  Clickfool 03/10/07
  48.   What is unnacceptable? 13:02  |  Richard Witty 03/10/07
  49.   For Ivar, bang on the money # 45 13:08  |  Clickfool 03/10/07
  50.   Interest Based Negotiations 13:09  |  Ad Huikeshoven 03/10/07
  51.   HT, Israel was born and sustained only by international goodwill 13:11  |  Ivar 03/10/07
  52.   Obviously, Hamas` masters want in on the deal, or the chance to s 13:19  |  a wandering Jew 03/10/07
  53.   Aluf Benn purposefully forgets another main point in Bush letter 13:21  |  Absolute Sweden 03/10/07
  54.   For Hard Talk # 46 13:26  |  Clickfool 03/10/07
  55.   Jerusalem sould never be negotiable to terrorist 13:40  |  Al Mathes 03/10/07
  56.   All anti Israel posters 13:44  |  Hy Klein 03/10/07
  57.   abbas like arafat before him,is trying to sign away Palestinian 13:56  |  lakshmi 03/10/07
  58.   Olmert`s reference to Bush`s opinion on "large settlement blocs" 14:09  |  Ivar 03/10/07
  59.   Agreed Natallie: the Pals are an inferior product 14:12  |  Jasmine Murphy 03/10/07
  60.   CRAZY Arab Hannah 14:14  |  Aruach 03/10/07
  61.   Clicky -A Fool- in Sussex 14:37  |  Aruach 03/10/07
  62.   Reasonable and unreasonable Murry of Milan 14:45  |  Petra 03/10/07
  63.   # 26 Ivar - Temple Mount should never have become an issue 14:48  |  17 03/10/07
  64.   clickfool Israel Forever, Palestine, NEVER 14:49  |  Petra 03/10/07
  65.   NO PEACE without Hamas joining in or destroyed. 14:49  |  The Equalizer 03/10/07
  66.   #47 the yellow streak and more bilge 14:51  |  victor hardman 03/10/07
  67.   Crazy Ahnnah ever seen the 72 virgins? Uglier than homemade sin 14:51  |  Petra 03/10/07
  68.   # 36 Axel from Germany 14:54  |  17 03/10/07
  69.   Ivar # 45 Go Ahead And Lose Them 15:41  |  Jeff Northridge 03/10/07
  70.   PALS are back with "our way or intifada" threats again 16:10  |  PETER SM 03/10/07
  71.   Ivar # 58 The Great "Land Grab" 16:11  |  Jeff Northridge 03/10/07
  72.   delay....? 16:20  |  ravi 03/10/07
  73.   Olmert wants to keep everything vague... 16:22  |  Ibrahim 03/10/07
  74.   lakshmi flew over the cuckoo`s nest 16:33  |  cuckoo`snest 03/10/07
  75.   A Zionist debates # 64 16:37  |  Clickfool 03/10/07
  76.   The same Zionist debates again # 67 16:39  |  Clickfool