JORDAN: Palestinians and Israelis to present joint draft agreement to U.S. led conference

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says following an unscheduled meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman following a visit to Egypt that Palestinians and Israelis are negotiating to reach an agreement to take to U.S.-led talks later this year. Abbas says the agreement would include mention of final status issues necessary for the establishment of a Palestinian state, even though Israeli officials say Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is seeking a broad-brush joint statement for the conference. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said he is in negotiations with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert over final-status issues, with the aim of forging a joint agreement to be presented at the U.S-led Middle East peace conference. "We are negotiating with the Israelis. Following that there will be an agreement. We will carry this agreement to the international meeting or conference for its blessing and approval. We will then start negotiating on details. This is the scenario," Abbas said on Monday (October 1) following a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman. Abbas was holding previously unscheduled meetings in Jordan following a visit to Egypt. Israeli officials had said on Sunday (September 30) that Abbas and Olmert will meet on Wednesday (October 3) to try to narrow differences over a U.S.-led conference on Palestinian statehood, planned for mid-to-late November. Israeli government spokesman David Baker said the meeting would take place in Olmert's residence in Jerusalem, with negotiating teams from either side holding their first formal talks separately. The teams will work on a "joint statement to be presented at the conclusion of the upcoming international meeting", Baker said. Abbas wants an explicit "framework" agreement with a timeline for implementation. "(The agreement) should include all final resolution issues like Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements, security, water and other issues. If we find solutions to all these issues and a vision for a Palestinian state, at that point the agreement will be drafted and we take it to the international conference." But it was unclear to what extent Olmert was prepared to meet Abbas's appeal to delve deeply into the "final status" issues key to the establishment of a Palestinian state -- borders, the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees. Israeli officials say Olmert is seeking a broad-brush joint statement for the conference. Olmert has been weakened politically since last year's war in Lebanon, raising doubts among Israelis and Palestinians about his ability to deliver on peace promises. Abbas, too, wields limited power since Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in June. Israel has said it plans to release 87 Palestinian prisoners on Monday as a goodwill gesture towards Abbas. Olmert and Abbas have been meeting regularly since June as part of a U.S.-led campaign to shore up the Fatah leader in the occupied West Bank and to isolate Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

ITN Source | October 2, 2007

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