Israel, PA hold secret meetings over renewing peace talks

DEAD SEA, Jordan - Israel and the Palestinian Authority have launched discreet contacts recently regarding a renewal of negotiations, Haaretz has learned.

The meetings come despite the PA's public position to the effect that negotiations will not be resumed until Israel freezes construction in West Bank settlements.

President Shimon Peres on Sunday said that Israel is interested in renewing peace talks with the Palestinians immediately.

Peres met with Jordan's King Abdullah on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea.

The two also apparently discussed the Palestinian peace plan Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to present to U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.

The Jordanian king has been urging that peace negotiations be advanced. Abdullah views a stalemate in talks as a threat to the stability of his regime.

Peres hinted that Israel would be ready to accept some of the principles of the Saudi peace initiative and told the king that renewed peace talks with the Palestinians would jump-start the Arab peace plan. Peres also said that Israel views favorably the prospect of a peace agreement with virtually the entire Arab world.

He added, however, that some aspects of the Saudi peace plan, such as a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, would have to be negotiated.

Peres attracted a great deal of press attention while at the World Economic Forum, and his speech was attended by people from throughout the Muslim world.