ABBAS WANTS CLOSED TALKS

Abbas proposes closed talks with Israel By SALAH NASRAWI,
Associated Press Writer Wed Dec 27, 4:26 PM ET

CAIRO, Egypt - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas proposed Wednesday that he start closed-door talks with Israel on some of their most difficult disputes including the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. It is the right time to talk, Abbas told reporters after he met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.Recent weeks have seen a growing momentum toward reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met Abbas on Saturday, and Olmert is expected to meet Mubarak next week at an Egyptian Red Sea resort. The bipartisan panel on Iraq headed by former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III said progress on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute could help ease tensions in Iraq.

Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, has hosted several rounds of talks among rival Palestinian factions over the years. It has been working to broker a deal between the Jewish state and Hamas for the release of an Israeli soldier captured in June by militants affiliated to the group.Olmert said last week that he would consider releasing some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel before Cpl. Gilad Shalit is freed.Abbas did not spell out why he was proposing that the negotiations with Israel be backdoor. But as one of the architects of the 1993 Oslo peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, he is known to
champion quiet, informal diplomacy.

We have the idea of a backdoor channel between us and the Israelis, with the participation of
one or all members of the Quartet to discuss all the issues of the final status, Abbas said, referring to the Western powers — the United States, Russia, European Union and the United Nations — that oversee the peace process. Abbas said he proposed backdoor negotiations to Olmert at their weekend meeting, and that the Israeli leader promised to consider the suggestion. He also said he planned to discuss the idea with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she comes to the Middle East next month.Abbas made clear he wanted the talks to focus on the issues that have been the hardest to resolve in previous negotiations. Those issues are the future of Palestinian refugees, the sovereignty of Jerusalem — which both Israelis and
Palestinians claim as their capital — and the borders of the future Palestinian state.It is not certain that Olmert would agree to tackle the thorniest issues rather than proceed cautiously with step-by-step negotiations and interim agreements. It is also unclear how the Palestinian government would view the results of backdoor talks with Israel by Abbas, who is in the opposition.

Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel, is believed to favor a limited truce with the Jewish state in exchange for its complete withdrawal from the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Olmert is under pressure from hard-line Israelis opposed to withdrawing from the West Bank.Olmert is expected to meet Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik on Jan. 4, Olmert's office said Wednesday. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit met Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Wednesday to prepare for the summit.Egypt has been trying to negotiate the release of an Israeli soldier whose capture by Hezbollah militants touched off the summer war in Lebanon.A spokesman for President Mubarak, Suleiman Awad, told reporters Wednesday that the Egyptian leader had written to President Bush urging him to take advantage of the current climate to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.