Barak ‘not ruling out’ Arafat talks
Prime Minister Ehud Barak is not ruling out a last-minute meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat before Israeli elections, it was reported today.
The move comes despite an earlier decision to freeze contacts with the Palestinians before the vote.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak are among those trying to arrange a meeting between Barak and Arafat, Gilead Sher, chief of the prime minister’s office, said today.
Asked about a possible Barak-Arafat summit on Sunday in Egypt, Sher said: ‘‘I cannot say anything final or concrete. There are all kinds of feelers.’’
Earlier this week, Barak had announced he was cutting off contacts with the Palestinians until Tuesday’s elections because of a harsh anti-Israel speech Arafat had delivered at a gathering of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
Even if a Barak-Arafat meeting takes place, it would probably not produce the dramatic breakthrough the Israeli prime minister needs to overtake Israel’s hard-line leader Ariel Sharon, who is ahead by some 20% in opinion polls.
Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia denied Israeli reports that the two sides have come close to agreement on all issues even the most contentious one, the fate of Palestinian refugees during talks last week in the Egyptian resort of Taba.
‘‘We are still facing a lot of problems. There is a need for more work to bridge these gaps,’’ Qureia said.
The Israeli Maariv daily said the Palestinians agreed that refugees would resettle largely in the future Palestinian state and areas Israel would yield to the Palestinians as part of a land swap, the report said.
One or more cities for refugees would be built in such Israeli areas, including Halutza Sands near the Gaza Strip, Maariv said.
In another new detail emerging from the Taba talks, Palestinian officials said Israel proposed that sovereignty over a key Jerusalem holy site be given to Islamic countries for a five-year trial period. Barak has said he would not hand the site, sacred to Muslims and Jews, to Palestinian control.
