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Halevy will meet Abbas (above) in Doha, Qatar
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, October 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) -
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is holding “secret contacts”
with Palestinian officials which were arranged by his former spy chief
Ephraim Halevy, the Israeli daily Ma’ariv said Tuesday, October 1.
The
contacts were facilitated by a country which has no diplomatic ties to
Israel, probably the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the mass-circulation
tabloid said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The
unnamed Palestinian officials he met with could play a prominent role
in a future Palestinian leadership, as Israel, the United States and
an increasing number of Palestinians are agitating for a new
administration, Ma’ariv said.
Halevy,
who now heads the National Security Council, is accompanying Sharon on
his three-day trip to Russia, which started on Sunday.
Sharon
met in January with Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Qorei,
also known as Abu Ala, the number two of the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) Mahmud Abbas and Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat’s economic advisor Mohammed Rashid.
The
meetings, held with Arafat’s blessing, came up with no solution to
the protracted Palestinian uprising, which has now been underway for
two years.
At
the start of September, Sharon said he was ready to meet with a senior
Palestinian official on the request of the official, whom he did not
name.
The
Qatari News Agency (QNA) said that Halevy will meet Abbas in Doha,
Qatar, but the time of the meeting was not known.
Israeli
newspaper Yediot Aharanot reported Wednesday, October 2, Halevy and
Abbas’s meeting in Doha, six weeks ago, with mediation from the
Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassem, who has strong connections
with Halevy.
The
paper added that the meeting spoke about Palestinian reforms and the
possibility that a Palestinian officials will be appointed as Prime
Minister in the Palestian Authority.
