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New Round Of Talks In Egypt
CAIRO (IslamOnline) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will start a 10-day round of peace talks in the Egyptian Sinai resort of Taba Sunday night in what both sides call the most serious talks since the failed U.S.-sponsored Camp David talks in July.
The Palestinian delegation headed by Ahmed Korei, speaker of the Palestinian legislative council, will include members of the same Camp David negotiation team. The one missing member is Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Yasser Arafat, news agencies reported.
On the Israeli side, Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Regional Cooperation Minister Shimon Peres would oversee talks, while Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami and minister Amnon Lipki-Shahak would lead negotiations.
The marathon talks will focus on proposals put forward by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose administration left the White House on Saturday. Palestinian negotiators intend to renegotiate about 24 reservations in the proposal.
"We hope that the Israelis will come with positive positions," said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. "We are ready to start marathon talks and we are ready to sit together for the coming week or 10 days in order to reach a comprehensive agreement."
"The offers are getting better, but the settlements around Jerusalem and the settlement blocs are still the problem," one PA source close to the negotiations reportedly said.
The Israeli daily, The Jerusalem Post, reported on Sunday that sources in Barak's office affirmed that he does not believe the two parties will reach any accord by Israeli elections scheduled for February 6th.
The biggest issues surrounding the negotiations are questions and disagreements over control of al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site, which Jews call the Temple Mount. Resettlement of Palestinian refugees is another contentious issue to be discussed.
Hundreds of Palestinians rallied in the streets of Ramallah and the Askar refugee camp claiming their "simplest right of return" carrying signs proclaiming, "The right of return is a holy right."
The agenda of negotiations will also include the issue of Jerusalem, security measures and water resources division.
In his last day at the White House, Clinton sent both the Palestinians and Israelis emotional farewell letters published in local newspapers encouraging them to resume peace efforts.
"The violence does not demonstrate that the quest for peace has gone too far - but that it has not gone far enough. And it points not to the failure of negotiations - but to the futility of violence and force," Clinton wrote.
In contrast to President George W. Bush's foreign policy, Clinton said that Bush's administration would have its own policies and approaches that might be different than his administration.
"It is unfortunate that we could not reach an agreement during President Clinton's presidency, but we will continue exerting maximum efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace agreement with President George W. Bush," Arafat said.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported 400 Palestinians killed in almost 4 months of Israeli aggression in the occupied territories. Moreover, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported 45 Israeli Jews and 13 Israeli Arabs dead.
Barak had delayed negotiations on Palestinian proposed talks in order to avoid any conflicts with the funeral of the Israeli youth allegedly lured to death by Palestinians.
The Egyptian resort of Taba occupies a small part of northern the Akaba Gulf near the Israeli border. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israelis occupied it, and then pulled back forces after international arbitrators granted it to Egypt.
Six years ago, Taba hosted the preliminary negotiations prior to the second interim peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians.
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