A summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas looked set to be postponed on Monday amid a dispute over demands for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Top officials from both sides were due to hold another round of talks in a last-ditch effort to prevent the summit, which had been expected to take place on Tuesday, from being kicked into the long grass.
But sources acknowledged that substantial differences remained, while the atmosphere between the two sides was further soured overnight as Israeli troops shot dead three teenagers on the border with the Gaza Strip.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said he had been unable to reach agreement in two earlier rounds of talks with Sharon’s adviser Dov Weisglass on the text of a joint statement from both leaders after the summit.
”We want to agree on the final summit statement. What matters is the content of this summit, not the date,” Erakat told reporters.
”If we are able to resolve all the questions which should appear in the final statement, then the summit will take place,” he added.
Erakat was speaking after talks in the West Bank town of Ramallah with senior United States State Department official David Welch, who was also due to meet Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom later in the day.
Sources on both sides have admitted one of the main reasons for their efforts to stage a summit stemmed from pressure from Washington.
If a summit does not take place on Tuesday, it is thought unlikely it will take place before the end of the month as Israel comes to a virtual shutdown from Wednesday for the Yom Kippur day of atonement.
Abbas is due to fly to France over the weekend for a meeting with President Jacques Chirac before heading to Washington for talks with US President George Bush on October 20.
Erakat said one of the main stumbling blocks is the Israeli refusal to countenance ”the immediate release” of about 20 long-term prisoners.
Israel is determined to block the release of any prisoner who is deemed to have ”blood on their hands” after having taken part in deadly attacks.
Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Minister Sufian Abu Zaydeh said a summit will simply not take place unless the Israelis give ground.
”I think that in the absence of a satisfactory response from the Israelis on the subject of the prisoners, the summit will not be able to take place,” Abu Zaydeh said.
”Israel should start freeing the old prisoners who were arrested before the [1993] Oslo accords and those who have served long sentences.”
Israel is also understood to be reluctant to accept Palestinian demands to be given control of other areas of the West Bank and for the return of militants who were deported during the height of the five-year uprising.
A senior Israeli minister said neither side is interested in holding a summit but they want to show willingness in the face of US pressure.
”Sharon has nothing to give to Abbas and Abbas has no interest in a meeting that does not yield results,” the minister said.
Another Israeli official said the Americans are pressuring Sharon to give ground on the prisoners issue, but the prime minister is determined to study each possible release on a case-by-case basis.
Although the international community had hoped that the Israeli pull-out last month from the Gaza Strip would re-energise the peace process, the chances of a breakthrough have been stymied by continuing bloodshed.
Three Palestinian teenagers were shot dead by Israeli troops patrolling the southern section of Israel’s border with Gaza early on Monday.
Palestinian medics discovered the bodies of the three youngsters next to the security fence near the Kissufim crossing in southern Gaza.
The Israeli army said troops had opened fire towards three ”suspicious figures” crawling close to the Palestinian side of the fence. — Sapa-AFP