The marathon peace talks ended on an upbeat note Saturday, with the heads of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiation teams declaring that the "sides have never before been so close to attaining an agreement."
They emerged from marathon talks in the Red Sea resort of Taba Saturday proclaiming a new will to overcome months of bloodshed and strike a permanent peace settlement after Israel's upcoming elections.
The statement, issued by the chief negotiators, Israeli foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, and speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmed Qurei, affirmed their belief that "it will be possible to bridge remaining gaps when the talks are resumed after elections in Israel."
Israeli and Palestinian officials are now trying to arrange a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, which would produce a more detailed statement summarizing progress achieved thus far in the peace process, said Haaretz newspaper.
The Barak-Arafat meeting would have international sponsorship. Sweden's government has offered to host the meeting this Tuesday in Stockholm, said the paper.
A senior Israeli source told the daily that Barak will agree to meet with Arafat only if the results of the summit are conclusively arranged in advance.
"Meetings with Arafat in the past didn't exactly turn out as planned," the source said, adding "they haven't always yielded the results which were promised."
According to the paper, Israel's negotiators at the Taba talks, Ben-Ami, justice minister, Yossi Beilin, Barak's bureau chief, Gilad Sher, will recommend that Barak meet with Arafat.
Sher and PA counterparts worked Saturday on a draft formulation of a declaration which would be issued by the two leaders, added the paper.
Israel's right-wing Likud opposition party, meanwhile, immediately denounced the joint Israeli-Palestinian statement in Taba as a political ploy 10 days before a prime ministerial election which Likud leader, Ariel Sharon, is poised to win, said the Israeli paper.
Indeed, neither side clinched the accord they sought, reported AFP, adding that Qorei gave a more subdued assessment than Ben Ami did at their joint press conference at a luxury hotel on the Red Sea.
"The peace process cannot be considered dead and the way ahead is still open," Palestinian information minister, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said earlier.
Ben Ami was quoted by the agency as saying that the basis for a final settlement had been laid by the progress achieved on some issues and the new spirit of trust from six days of talks.
Following are the main points in the Israeli-Palestinian joint statement released Saturday, following six days of intensive talks in Taba, according to AFP:
1. "The sides declare they have never been closer to reaching an agreement."
2. "The Taba talks were unprecedented in their positive atmosphere and their expression of mutual willingness to meet the national, security and existential needs of each side."
3. "Given the circumstances and time constraints, it proved impossible to reach understandings on all issues despite the substantial progress that was achieved on each of the issues discussed."
4. Both sides agreed that "the remaining gaps could be bridged with the resumption of negotiations following the Israeli elections."
5. Negotiators took into account ideas proposed by former US president Bill Clinton, and on all issues reported "substantial progress in the understanding of the other side's positions and in some of (the issues) the two sides drew closer."
6. A full agreement could not be reached because of the February 6 special election for prime minister in Israel. "The two sides are convinced in a short period of time that it will be possible to bridge the differences remaining and attain a permanent settlement of peace."
7. "The two sides take upon themselves to return to normalcy and to a stable security situation on the ground through the observation of their mutual commitment, in the spirit of the Sharm el-Sheikh memorandum" of October -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
