An Israeli official source affirmed that the talks between President Abbas and Israeli PM Olmert in Jerusalem yesterday tackled the issues of the city of Jerusalem, the refugees and the borders of the Palestinian future state. Dr. Saeb Erekat, Head of the Negotiations Affairs Department, affirmed that the Palestinian side has not received any initiative on the final solution. The Israeli source said one of the proposals that was discussed was moving Arab quarters in East Jerusalem to the Palestinian control, in addition to the case of Salah Eddin "Philadelphia" axis as both sides agreed on the need to hold a meeting for representatives from the PA, Egypt, the United States and Israel to find solutions to the issue of controlling the smuggling of weapons across the Egyptian territories. The source confirmed that the next meeting between Abbas and Olmert will be held before the new Jewish year after two weeks. The talks also reached an agreement yesterday that Israel and the PA seek to form a quartet security committee to include the United States, Egypt, the PA and Israel to discuss means to prevent smuggling of weapons into Gaza Strip. Israeli PM Olmert promised to study Abbas request on releasing more Palestinian prisoners. The meeting also tackled the level of progress in implementing the agreement on the wanted Palestinians handing over their weapons to the PA and then Israel will stop tracking them down. The meeting also tackled the issues of the borders of the Palestinian state and the city of Jerusalem and the refugees. The Israeli source said the ultimate aim of Abbas-Olmert yesterday was two Palestinian and Israeli states living side by side in peace.

President Abbas affirmed yesterday that any agreement to be reached with Israel will be presented to the Palestinian people through a referendum. When asked by Palestine TV on the reports about secret Palestinian-Israeli meetings aiming to reach solutions to the outstanding issues, he said the presence of such secret meetings does not mean in any case having secret negotiations. He added: there won't be any agreement under the table; what we reach will be presented to the Palestinian people through a referendum and through posing it to the PLO institutions, especially the PNC. He totally rejected the state with temporary borders.

On the date of the of the international conference in the United States, Abbas said the official date is not known yet except what is being circulated in the mass media saying that it will convene on November 15, 2007.

Erekat held a press conference yesterday and denied any exchange of documents. He said all issues of the final status are under discussion and we have not reached the phase of details and exchange of documents; we have not handed the Israeli side any document and they have not handed us any document. We are not at the phase of taking decisions. We believe in the depth and seriousness of the negotiations and we are not underestimating them but we cannot say that we entered the phase of details or phase of putting ideas down on paper; we don’t want to raise the ceiling of expectations. The meeting yesterday tackled the issues of the Israeli military operations and settlements expansion and issues on the needs of Gaza Strip. Erekat didn’t deny that the Palestinians and Israelis were holding talks in back channels but added that these were not official negotiations.

Erekat said Abbas warned on the dangers of the Israeli closure on Gaza Strip. The meeting also tackled the issue of the detainees, and the deportees (26 in Gaza Strip and 13 in Europe) and a solution will be found for their case soon. They also discussed the issue of 54,000 Palestinians without identity cards. The Israeli side said yesterday that Israeli measures on easing the movement of Palestinians will be informed to the Palestinian side in the coming days. In the meantime, US State Department Spokesperson said Rice had a chance to talk to the two leaders last Monday before their meeting.

An Israeli official said both sides discussed security cooperation and means to reinforce the Palestinian security forces and professional cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian governments.

In the meantime, Hamas Movement Spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said part of the goals of the meeting was to coordinate steps against Hamas and the last step was the closure of our institutions in the West Bank. Politically speaking, the meeting was a total failure and didn’t result in anything and this is normal as the occupation is not ready to offer any political costs and the only beneficiary of this meeting is Olmert who invests such meetings to polish and improve the image of the occupation in front of the world.

Islamic Jihad Movement expressed regret for the continuation of the security meetings between Olmert and Abbas as the Israeli attacks and aggression continues amid threats to launch an aggression against Gaza Strip.

Published at Al Quds NewsPaper on August 29, 2007