Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were scheduled to meet in Switzerland Thursday, the highest level of face-to-face contacts since Abbas met with Olmert last month.
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh met with Abbas Wednesday night and continued prior discussions concerning easing travel restrictions on PA Arabs and further financial aid to the democratically-elected Hamas-ruled Authority.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed earlier this month to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s recommendation that the two conduct their negotiations in “back channel” talks in order to avoid media attention.
A report published on the WorldNet Daily website this week revealed that the government has agreed in principle to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria since Olmert met with Abbas in December.
Negotiations have been quietly proceeding apace for the past two or three weeks, according to sources quoted by WND reporter Aaron Klein.
According to Egyptian and EU sources, one of the plans currently under consideration involves handing over control of central and southern Yesha to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces. In northern Yesha, the transfer of responsibility to Abbas’ security forces over the area would be monitored by Jordan and EU observers.
A top level meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas is scheduled for next month with U.S. officials in Washington D.C. They are expected to discuss the parameters for the creation of a PA state.
The quiet discussions away from the camera lights were to focus on “the principles of a permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinians,” according to media reports.
The talks began with a surprise meeting between Olmert and Abbas on a Saturday night in late December, the first such conference between Israel and the PA in more than two years. The meeting focused primarily on money.
Israel is currently holding some $500 million as part of the freeze on transferring funds it collects on behalf of the PA that began after the general public in the PA democratically elected the Hamas terror organization to rule the government.
Olmert agreed at the meeting to release $100 million for humanitarian purposes, a sum Abbas hoped to use to pay government employees who have not received their full salaries since March.
Moreover, Olmert’s bureau chief Yoram Turbowicz and his political advisor Shalom Turgeman were sent to Ramallah early in December for secret talks with Abbas.
Olmert also spoke with the PA chairman during the meeting, which focused on a prisoner swap for the release of IDF officer Gilad Shalit, who is still being held by PA terrorists seven months after they kidnapped him, last June. It was the first meeting by Israeli emissaries with the PA chairman.
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh met with Abbas Wednesday night and continued prior discussions concerning easing travel restrictions on PA Arabs and further financial aid to the democratically-elected Hamas-ruled Authority.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed earlier this month to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s recommendation that the two conduct their negotiations in “back channel” talks in order to avoid media attention.
A report published on the WorldNet Daily website this week revealed that the government has agreed in principle to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria since Olmert met with Abbas in December.
Negotiations have been quietly proceeding apace for the past two or three weeks, according to sources quoted by WND reporter Aaron Klein.
According to Egyptian and EU sources, one of the plans currently under consideration involves handing over control of central and southern Yesha to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces. In northern Yesha, the transfer of responsibility to Abbas’ security forces over the area would be monitored by Jordan and EU observers.
A top level meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas is scheduled for next month with U.S. officials in Washington D.C. They are expected to discuss the parameters for the creation of a PA state.
The quiet discussions away from the camera lights were to focus on “the principles of a permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinians,” according to media reports.
The talks began with a surprise meeting between Olmert and Abbas on a Saturday night in late December, the first such conference between Israel and the PA in more than two years. The meeting focused primarily on money.
Israel is currently holding some $500 million as part of the freeze on transferring funds it collects on behalf of the PA that began after the general public in the PA democratically elected the Hamas terror organization to rule the government.
Olmert agreed at the meeting to release $100 million for humanitarian purposes, a sum Abbas hoped to use to pay government employees who have not received their full salaries since March.
Moreover, Olmert’s bureau chief Yoram Turbowicz and his political advisor Shalom Turgeman were sent to Ramallah early in December for secret talks with Abbas.
Olmert also spoke with the PA chairman during the meeting, which focused on a prisoner swap for the release of IDF officer Gilad Shalit, who is still being held by PA terrorists seven months after they kidnapped him, last June. It was the first meeting by Israeli emissaries with the PA chairman.