By Xinhua
Ramallah : Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat announced that another meeting will be held between the Israeli and the Palestinian negotiation teams later on Monday after a meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
“The two negotiations teams will hold a meeting later on Monday night in order to agree on the joint political document before heading to Annapolis,” Erekat told a news conference in Ramallah.
He told reporters at the end of a meeting held between Abbas and Olmert that “in today’s meeting, both President Abbas and Olmert presented their proposals.”
Erekat also said that these proposals will be later discussed between the two negotiations teams in a meeting to be held later on Monday evening.
Negotiation teams of Israel and the PNA are currently preparing a joint statement which will be presented at the summit in Annapolis, Maryland. But both sides have said that the negotiations were once again in stalemate.
If the two sides could not agree on a joint statement, then it is possible that each of the two teams presents a statement at the Annapolis conference, a certain Palestinian source said on condition of anonymity.
Abbas and Olmert met earlier in Jerusalem earlier on Monday, which was supposed to be their last meeting ahead of the U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace summit initially scheduled for late November in Annapolis, Maryland.
“We are facing difficulties, and the meeting (between Olmert and Abbas) was also difficult. We hope in tonight’s meeting, the two sides would be able to bridge the gaps in the positions between the two sides,” said Erekat.
Earlier on Monday, chief negotiator Ahmed Qurea, better known as Abu Alla said he didn’t expect that a joint Israeli-Palestinian declaration would be made in Annapolis peace meeting.
Qurea told reporters in Ramallah that there will be no more talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzepi Levni “after we failed on Saturday to achieve a progress in agreeing on the joint political document.”
The Palestinians want to agree with Israel on a joint political document that includes a clear position towards resuming talks on final status issues within a limited period of time that ends with the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Israel, on the other hand, has said the summit should be a forum to formally renew talks, and the key discussions on core issues should only come after the meeting.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also said earlier on Monday that the two sides have not yet agreed on a joint document, adding that differences involve “terms and concepts.”
Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth also quoted a senior Israeli diplomat as saying on Sunday that, “at present time, we don’t have a joint statement or even a draft for one.”
But Palestinian Foreign Minister Raid Malki said Monday afternoon that the joint statement was not what the Palestinians demand for the attendance at the conference, instead, what they want is “an Israeli commitment on four matters.”
These are requirements in the first phase of the Road Map peace plan, which specifies that Israel halts all settlement activities, reopens East Jerusalem institutions, dismantles settlement outposts and removes military road blocks.
Erekat’s and Malki’s comments come as expectations for the conference are at an all-time low, and the attendance of high-level delegations from key Arab and Islamic states has not been secured.
A decision of the Arab nations is expected at an Arab League meeting to held in Cairo on Thursday.
Earlier, David Baker, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office, told Xinhua that the meeting between Abbas and Olmert was positive, and the two sides made some progress in certain elements regarding the joint statement during their two-hour long discussions.
The spokesman, however, didn’t reveal the details about the so-called progress.