Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas agreed on Tuesday to instruct their negotiating teams
to start talking about core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict according to a "three-level" model.
"The two leaders decided to allow negotiating teams to conduct
direct talks on all core issues," Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev
said, adding, "We expect the process will begin shortly."
The three-level model is comprised of talks on the following
levels: firstly, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and head of
the Palestinian negotiations team Ahmed Qureia will discuss the
core issues in a direct dialogue. The negotiating teams will then
discuss the issues in detail. In case of a disagreement, Abbas and
Olmert will intervene.
According to a report by local daily Ha'aretz on Sunday,
negotiations over the core issues - refugees, Jerusalem and borders
- will begin after Bush's visit to the region this week, while the
remaining issues will be discussed in other committees.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced
earlier this week that he would quit the government and pull Israel
Beiteinu out of the coalition once core issues - refugees,
Jerusalem and borders - were raised for negotiation.
Olmert and Abbas reached the agreement during their meeting on
Tuesday, a day ahead of an upcoming visit by U.S. President George
W. Bush to the region.
Bush is due to visit Israel and the West Bank on Wednesday and
Thursday as part of a regional tour that will cover seven countries
in nine days, during which the U.S. president is expected to press
Israel and Palestinians to accelerate their recently revived peace
talks.
Israel and the Palestinians pledged to strive for a final-status
agreement within a year during the U.S.-hosted Annapolis conference
in late November, but talks between the two sides have been low-key
with no evident progress.
The sense of an impasse intensified following contentious
meetings regarding continued Israeli construction of settlements in
east Jerusalem.
(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2008)
