By KUNA
Gaza : A senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday that talks that were held between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams on Tuesday addressed a host of issues namely those related to the final status.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, told Voice of Palestine Radio that the discussions that involved him, along with the head of the Palestinian team, Ahmad Qurei, and the Israeli team, led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, centered on final-status issues.
The three-hour meeting, held in Jerusalem, was attended by experts from the two sides, he added.
The talks deal with issues related to the final status and destination of Jerusalem, the refugees, the settlements, the borders, the water-sharing and the Palestinian state.
Erekat indicated de facto conditions in Gaza, enforced by the Islamic organization, Hamas, has been hindering the settlement talks.
He confirmed that Egypt was involved in tireless efforts to maintain the fragile truce with Israel and warned that a new Israeli military invasion of the strip would result in a humanitarian catastrophe.
Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, with up to six persons living in each square meter, thus such an invasion will result in a grave catastrophe of utter annihilation, Erekat warned.
He appealed to Hamas anew to “halt the coup” and allow restoration of conditions in the strip to those that had existed before the Islamists took it over with force.