Israeli tanks are still ringing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, but Israeli attempts to isolate him seemed to be eroding, with planned visits this week by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey.
EU foreign policy chief Solana, denied access to Arafat when he and Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique traveled to the Middle East earlier in the month, was planning to see Arafat Wednesday, EU president Spain said.
Pique told a news conference in Spain that Solana, accompanied by the EU's Middle East envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos, would also hold talks with Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon.
The trip was hastily planned after a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who invited the EU to send a mission to Israel and said it could call on Arafat. Diplomats quoted Peres as saying that there had been a "misunderstanding" during the earlier EU mission.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and his Greek counterpart, George Papandreou, planning a joint mission to the region, will meet Arafat and then Peres Thursday, a Turkish official said. Cem and Papandreou also expected to meet Sharon.
Meanwhile, Palestinians spoke of progress after the first direct talks with Israelis over a three-week-old standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity Tuesday.
"We are close to an agreement, we hope," Palestinian legislator Salah Taamari told reporters after two hours of talks aimed at ending the protracted impasse at the Bethlehem church. "The talks were constructive," Bethlehem mayor Hanna Nasser said. "We heard many offers. They will be materialized at 6 o'clock (1500 GMT)," he added without elaborating.
Palestinians said they proposed the wanted men holed up inside the compound be taken to the Gaza Strip. Nasser said Israeli negotiators did not reject the plan outright. Asked whether he believed the standoff could be resolved Tuesday, Nasser said: "I hope so."
Canon Andrew White, an envoy of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, also participated in the session, Palestinian officials said.
"The Palestinians outlined their position, as did we. It is too early to assess what was achieved. The talks will resume in the near future," Israeli army spokesman Olivier Rafkowicz said.
Taamari said earlier that any wanted men should face Palestinian justice if they had broken any laws. "We will not accept that these men be deported or tried in an Israeli court," he said, adding that Palestinians were demanding that a third party guarantee any solution.
In a related development, U.S. envoy William Burns, who held what Palestinians said were unproductive talks with Arafat Monday, met Sharon Tuesday, but no details emerged. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
