LOC10:37
07:37 GMT
RAMALLAH, Oct 20 (KUNA) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday
evening remarked he is to meet Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert October 27 and
added the latter made positive remarks on several issues recently.
Abbas told a host of Palestinian columnists Olmert spoke of returning
"almost all of the West Bank" and "almost all Jerusalem neighborhoods,"
adding, however, he was not sure what his counterpart meant exactly by "almost.
"
The president further said there are no guarantees the negotiations would
continue with a new US administration taking over. The Palestinian party is
therefore to present several requests to the international quartet in Sharm
El-Sheikh.
He reiterated an agreement was reached with both the US and the Israeli
side that partial solutions would not suffice and that there should be no
delay in dealing with any of the issues. The Palestinian side also stressed it
would not stand for a state with "temporary" borders.
The six issues under discussion are rule over Jerusalem, borders,
settlements, refugees, security, and water, but the focus is on aspects of
daily life like closures and release of detainees rather than final status
issues.
He also denied relaying a message to the Syrian president from the US
President. He only informed Al-Assad of developments in the talks, he said.
The Palestinian president noted he also communicated with both the Israeli
government and international community to stress that aggressions on
Palestinian citizens by Jewish settlers have gone too far and that failure to
check these suggests Israel is not sincere in its search for a settlement of
the issue.(end)
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KUNA 201037 Oct 08NNNN