In preliminary talks scheduled for Friday between Palestinian Authority negotiator Saib Erekat and Sharon advisor Dov Wiesglass, Erekat will demand that Israel begin releasing Arab terrorists who murdered Israelis.
In addition, Erekat will announce the PA's intention to release Ahmed Sa’adat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was responsible for the murder of Rehavam Ze’evi, Israel’s former tourist minister. Ze’evi was gunned down in a Jerusalem hotel in October, 2001. Under a U.S. brokered agreement, Sa’adat remains under custody in a PA jail in Jericho.
Erekat and Weisglass will be meeting in order to prepare Sharon and PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) for a meeting scheduled to take place next week.
Responding to the PA’s demands, Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ehud Olmert said on Israel radio Thurday morning, “I don’t think he [Abbas] can expect the release of prisoners with blood on their hands.”
Aside from freeing terrorist killers, Erekat is expected to demand that Israel cease all construction and expansion of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria and stop work on the security barrier going up around Jerusalem and roughly along the pre-1967 armistice lines.
Already on the agenda for the Sharon-Abbas meeting are a number of matters that have yet to be resolved following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza area in August. These issues include the management of crossings for people and goods between Gaza and Israel, and Gaza and Egypt.
Also on the table are measures negotiated last February between the two men in Sharm e-Sheik providing for an Israeli pullback of IDF troops from Arab-populated cities in Judea and Samaria. A pullback from the city of Tulkarem was carried out earlier this year, but an upsurge of terrorism halted further planned withdrawals from Shechem and Ramallah.
Olmert said that Israel would consider taking measures to ease the day-to-day life of Arabs living in Judea and Samaria.
"Anything that can ease the plight of residents in Judea and Samaria and protect Israel from danger is something that should be legitimately considered," Olmert told Israel radio.
Despite recent attempts to ease relations between Israel and the PA, the PA’s legislative council has decided to estabish an investigatory committee to determine whether Israel was responsible for Yassir Arafat’s death. Many PA Arabs are convinced that Israel had a role in bringing about Arafat’s demise.
In addition, Erekat will announce the PA's intention to release Ahmed Sa’adat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was responsible for the murder of Rehavam Ze’evi, Israel’s former tourist minister. Ze’evi was gunned down in a Jerusalem hotel in October, 2001. Under a U.S. brokered agreement, Sa’adat remains under custody in a PA jail in Jericho.
Erekat and Weisglass will be meeting in order to prepare Sharon and PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) for a meeting scheduled to take place next week.
Responding to the PA’s demands, Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ehud Olmert said on Israel radio Thurday morning, “I don’t think he [Abbas] can expect the release of prisoners with blood on their hands.”
Aside from freeing terrorist killers, Erekat is expected to demand that Israel cease all construction and expansion of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria and stop work on the security barrier going up around Jerusalem and roughly along the pre-1967 armistice lines.
Already on the agenda for the Sharon-Abbas meeting are a number of matters that have yet to be resolved following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza area in August. These issues include the management of crossings for people and goods between Gaza and Israel, and Gaza and Egypt.
Also on the table are measures negotiated last February between the two men in Sharm e-Sheik providing for an Israeli pullback of IDF troops from Arab-populated cities in Judea and Samaria. A pullback from the city of Tulkarem was carried out earlier this year, but an upsurge of terrorism halted further planned withdrawals from Shechem and Ramallah.
Olmert said that Israel would consider taking measures to ease the day-to-day life of Arabs living in Judea and Samaria.
"Anything that can ease the plight of residents in Judea and Samaria and protect Israel from danger is something that should be legitimately considered," Olmert told Israel radio.
Despite recent attempts to ease relations between Israel and the PA, the PA’s legislative council has decided to estabish an investigatory committee to determine whether Israel was responsible for Yassir Arafat’s death. Many PA Arabs are convinced that Israel had a role in bringing about Arafat’s demise.