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PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
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| July 17, 2007 |
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in a meeting yesterday that peace talks would collapse if Abbas' Fatah party reunited with Hamas. Among the topics discussed were ways to bring the region closer to a two-state solution and Olmert's package of goodwill gestures aimed at bolstering Abbas, Haaretz reported.
Despite the Palestinian delegation's push to discuss Jerusalem, the refugee question and borders, Olmert rejected their proposal. The Israeli prime minister said that there are other important issues that must be dealt with first.
"Any renewed cooperation between Fatah and Hamas will be, from our point of view, a breakdown of the political process," Olmert warned the Palestinian chairman.
Abbas vowed not to reunite with Hammas, a political source told the newspaper.
Israeli officials said the meeting was an important step in renewing peace talks one step at a time and described the atmosphere as "positive and friendly," according to the Jerusalem Post.
Among the topics discussed was Olmert's controversial agreement to release 256 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to Abbas. Olmert has defended his decision by claiming that no prisoner charged with killing Israelis will be released. However there is significant opposition to Olmert's plan.
"There is no Israeli citizen that can claim he was harmed by one of them [the prisoners]," a political source said. "However, most of them were involved in attempts to carry out terrorist attacks that failed."
Eli Yishai of the right wing party Shas opposes the prisoner release because "we are flooding [Abbas] with gestures, the efficiency of which we cannot check."
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, however, called on Israel to free more prisoners.
Abbas, among other requests, asked for the transfer of a shipment of arms from Jordan to the PA's security forces. In response, Olmert also agreed to consider transferring the Badr Brigade - a PLO force in the Jordanian armed forces - to the West Bank in order to bolster the PA's security forces.
The leaders tread lightly around the issue of the Gaza Strip, which is now under the complete control of Hamas, and focused solely on humanitarian issues there.
The Palestinian chairman requested that Israel transfer humanitarian aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Olmert agreed that Israel would continue to allow the transfer of aid.
Hamas, however, seemed to be trying to put its own two cents in, shooting three Kassam rockets at Sderot after the meeting ended. One rocket hit a home in Sderot while the other two landed in other parts of the city.
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