Palestinian PM urges quicker pace in peace talks
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinians need topick up the pace of peace negotiations if they hope to reach adeal this year, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said onTuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PalestinianPresident Mahmoud Abbas are due to meet in Jerusalem later inthe day. The two sides remain divided over the scope of afuture agreement.
Addressing North American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem,Fayyad said "not enough has happened" since a U.S.-hostedMiddle East peace conference in November to suggest a treatycan be reached in the next 11 months.
"If indeed this is going to happen, the pace has to bestepped up and stepped up significantly," he said.
Olmert has said the goal of peace talks with Abbas was toreach an understanding on "basic principles" for a Palestinianstate by the end of 2008, rather than the full-fledgedagreement that Palestinians have been seeking.
Disputing comments by Olmert, the Palestinians say theyhave not agreed to put off talks on the future of Jerusalemuntil the end of the process, a senior adviser to PalestinianPresident Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday.
Israel considers Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured in1967 and later annexed along with adjacent areas of the WestBank in a move that was never recognised internationally, aspart of its "indivisible and eternal capital".
Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be capital of the statethey hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and GazaStrip.
Other core issues the two sides have pledged to tackleinclude borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees.
BORDER LINES
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, chief negotiator withthe Palestinians, said in a speech in Jerusalem: "We will haveto give up parts of the Land of Israel", an Israeli term forareas that include the West Bank.
She said Israel should set its positions on key issues ofPalestinian statehood, with the understanding that implementingany deal would be conditional on Palestinians meeting securityobligations under a 2003 U.S.-backed peace "road map".
Livni reiterated that Israel intends to hold onto majorJewish settlement blocs in the West Bank in any futureagreement. Palestinians have called on Israel to fulfil its"road map" commitment to halt all settlement activity.
A senior Israeli official said the idea was to focusinitially on borders, then turn to the thornier issues ofJerusalem and refugees.
"You don't want to start with the most difficult stuff andfail. If you start with Jerusalem and refugees and you fail,then what?" the official said.
Holding off negotiations on Jerusalem makes political sensefor Olmert because it will help the Israeli leader retain hisfragile coalition government for now.
The ultra-religious Shas party has threatened to leave thecoalition if the negotiations focus on the fate of Jerusalem,which both Jews and Palestinians want as their capital.
Abbas's authority has been limited to the occupied WestBank since Hamas Islamists seized the Gaza Strip in June,casting doubt on his ability to make sweeping compromises.
(Additional reporting by Adam Entous and Mohammed Assadi;Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Catherine Evans)