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Mideast to resume talks
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ISRAEL and the Palestinians ruled out yesterday the possibility of an early summit even as both sides extended cautious overtures for a resumption of dialogue to end months of deadly bloodletting.
A top aide to new Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted there would be no summit meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat until the violence ceased, while a Palestinian official demanded first an end to Israel's “barbaric war”.
“I do not see a meeting in the near future between Ariel Sharon as we are still waiting for a call from Yasser Arafat for an end to violence,”said Uri Shani, director general of Sharon's office, repeating an often-stated demand.
“The halting of violence is not negotiable and there cannot be negotiations beforehand,” he told army radio, while hinting that there were nevertheless contacts: “It is very important to have permanent channels of communication.”
Sharon, who took over the reins of power from left-leaning Ehud Barak on Wednesday pledging to restore security after more than five months of raging Israeli-Palestinian violence, had sent a message to Arafat saying he hoped to find a way of establishing "personal contacts" to put an end to the bloodshed.
For his part, Arafat told his parliament on Saturday for Sharon to resume talks where they left off after a final round in the Egyptian resort of Taba in January, pleading for a “peace of the brave” that will establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said it was “premature” to talk about a summit without certain actions by Israel.
“This means that the Israeli side should halt this aggressive and barbaric war against our people, the siege on the Palestinian people and destruction of Palestinian infrastructure,” he told Voice of Palestine radio.
The Israeli army reported exchanges of fire in Gaza and the West Bank late on Saturday, while Palestinian hospital sources said at least four Palestinians were wounded in the new violence.
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