Palestinian informed sources said President Abbas will receive in the city of Jericho around noon today Israeli PM Olmert and that the meeting will last at least two hours and there are no arrangements to have both leaders talk to the press and that most probably a press conference will be held by Dr. Saeb Erekat at the end of the meeting.

Other sources said President Abbas will meet with Egyptian President Mubarak within the next two days in Egypt and this will be the first meeting between Mubarak and Abbas since the coup executed by Hamas in Gaza Strip, stressing that the Palestinian-Arab meetings will be intensified in the coming weeks before the international meeting in the United States next November.

The Palestinian sources said the meeting today between Olmert and Abbas will clarify if it can lay the foundations for a process that might take few months before the international meeting to reach an agreement or declaration of principles to explain the goal that both parties seek to achieve without ruling out the possibility of forming teams from both sides to work secretly on the details. Israeli sources didn’t rule the possibility of announcing certain steps as good will gestures towards President Abbas at the end of the meeting, such as expanding the list of wanted men to be included in the pardon deal and removing checkpoints in the West Bank, but stressed that at this moment there wont be any talk about withdrawal from Palestinian cities until the Palestinian security services are reinforced in the West Bank. The Israeli sources said the meeting might also discuss expanding scope of Palestinian-Israeli economic cooperation.

President Abbas stated that he wants his meeting with Olmert to come up with concrete practical results pertaining to the core issues, in addition to the outstanding issues, such as the crossings and the prisoners; Abbas stressed that these meetings must not be exhausted to discuss daily life issues. He said: The Palestinians paid a heavy price for seizing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and there is no need to keep seizing him because we can reach a settlement through Egyptian mediation. These statements came during his meeting with a delegation from the Secretariat of the Higher Follow Up Committee headed by Shawqi Khatib yesterday.

Erekat said it is too early to talk about a framework agreement; he added: We want the goal to deal with a series of meetings so that we can see results on the ground. When asked to comment on the Israeli speculations downplaying the importance of the results expected from the meeting, Erekat said: What governs our relations with the Israelis is the international legitimacy resolutions such as the signed agreements and the roadmap and the Arab Peace Initiative. The Palestinian people seek peace but not at any cost.

Published at Al Ayyam & Al Quds NewsPapers on August 6, 2007