Israeli, Palestinian Leaders to Meet

13/05/2003| IslamWeb

Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip on Monday as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, prepared to meet in the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian talks in nearly three years. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the meeting will be Friday. Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said arrangements were being finalized. "We want this meeting to end with tangible political results," he said. Sharon will then leave for Washington. Other Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anononymity, said the Sharon-Abbas meeting would take place by week's end. The last similar summit was in 2000, when then-premier Ehud Barak met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Meanwhile Israeli troops killed at least three Palestinians in clashes as Secretary of State Colin Powell wound up a peace mission. Powell asked the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers to take action on the "road map" peace plan; Palestinians are expected to rein in intifada fighters, and Israel is to ease restrictions that have caused much hardship in the Palestinian areas. The visit ended without visible results. Palestinian leaders expressed disappointment that Powell failed to prod Israel to accept the three-stage, three-year plan. Sharon has expressed major reservations which he plans to raise with President Bush next week. On Monday, Powell sought Egypt's help in the peace negotiations, a day after meeting separately with Sharon and Abbas. He is to travel next to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In tightening restrictions, the military referred to keeping out members of the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group that has sent foreigners to serve as buffers between troops and Palestinian civilians. Dozens of activists have been deported by Israel. Israel released 71 Palestinians from prisons Monday, bringing the two-day total to 140. Israeli officials called the releases a goodwill gesture but acknowledged that most or all of the prisoners had been arrested for working in Israel illegally, not for involvement in attacks, and would have been released soon. Palestinians, noting Israel is holding about 5,000 prisoners, dismissed the release as an attempt to impress Powell. In a pre-dawn incursion Monday, Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopters raided the Gaza town of Rafah, near Egypt's border, demolishing five buildings it said housed entrances to tunnels used for arms smuggling. Soldiers shot dead two Palestinians, Palestinian security sources said. The army withdrew after almost two hours. In nearby Khan Younis, witnesses said troops shot dead a Palestinian farmworker tilling a field near an Israeli army lookout post. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinians carry the body of Saleem Abu Arjah during his funeral at the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, May 12, 2003. Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters.