The on-again off-again meeting between Israeli prime minister
Sharon and PA leader Abu Mazzen seems to be definitely off
after a meeting on Monday produced a joint statement by the
Israeli-Palestinian steering committee chaired by Dov
Weisglass and Saeb Erekat. Both sides expressed their
obligation to fully implement their Roadmap commitments and
the Sharm el-Sheikh understandings and reiterated the
obligation to halt acts of violence.
Abu Mazzen is scheduled to travel to Washington for a meeting
with US President George Bush on October 20, and the
Americans asked the Palestinians to ensure that the meeting
takes place before then. According to the statement, the
meeting may be held after Abu Mazzen returns.
Both sides have been saying that the meeting should be
productive and not just a photo opportunity, but they have
different conceptions of what productivity means.
The Palestinians want four main things: the release of long-
serving prisoners who were incarcerated before the Oslo
Accords; the release of two "special" prisoners — an
elderly detainee, and detainee suffering from a terminal
illness; an arrangement that would allow the Church of the
Nativity deportees to return to their homes in the West Bank;
and the transfer of additional territory to the PA, with
Ramallah and Hebron taking top priority. The Palestinians
have also said that they want more arms.
The so-called "long-serving" prisoners are all criminals who
committed bloody crimes (or else they would not be in jail
any more after more than 15 years). Israel has said that it
is not prepared to release prisoners "with blood on their
hands."
An Israeli official said that Israel is willing to make
certain gestures to the Palestinians, but it thinks that
releasing prisoners with "blood on their hands" would help
Hamas and not the PA. Sharon is said to be opposed to the
Palestinian request for additional light weapons, but may
allow them to receive more bullets.
"The territories are awash with weapons," an official said.
"If Abbas needs more guns, he should begin to confiscate them
from Hamas. The problem is not weapons, but will."
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz is against supplying the
Palestinians with arms and handing over additional West Bank
cities in the near future. Mofaz believes the PA has yet to
prove its commitment to combating terror. Without such
action, Mofaz believes there is no justification for taking
such risks at present.
Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin argued that his agency sees no
reason not to provide the PA's security forces with
additional arms so that they can put on a show of strength
against Hamas.
In the statement issued on Monday, it said that the two sides
decided to resume the work of the joint committees in order
to advance the issues on the agenda, including:
* A joint security committee to discuss, among other issues,
the transfer of additional Palestinian cities to the
responsibility of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
* The resumption of the joint committee on fugitives and
deportees.
* The resumption of the joint committee on prisoners.
* The resumption of the work of the steering committee.
It was decided that teams of experts from both sides will
meet on a regular basis in order to accelerate the
discussions and reach agreements on the aforementioned
issues, according to the parameters outlined in quartet
emissary James Wolfensohn's letter to the prime ministers.
It was agreed that the two leaders would meet regularly in
order to personally accompany and evaluate the process and in
order to resolve disagreements through dialogue and
negotiation.
Israel stated its intention to initiate an easing of
humanitarian and economic restrictions on the Palestinian
population.
It was agreed that after PA Chairman Abu Mazzen returns from
Washington, the two leaders would meet in order to evaluate
the committees' progress.
After its Disengagement, Israel feels under no pressure to
make further concessions to the PA. The Palestinians, on the
other hand, keep insisting on concrete actions such as
prisoner release by Israel, but take no actions of their
own.
