World

Palestinian And Israeli Negotiators Meet

March 4, 2000 / 9:02 PM EST / AP

Top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met for the first time in over a month Saturday to discuss overdue aspects of the peace process, and Israel beefed up security for fear of terror attacks aimed at derailing the talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met three times this week in order to get peace talks back on track -- including a summit with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Arafat and Barak agreed that Israel will in the coming days implement overdue aspects of interim agreements, including a withdrawal from 6.1 percent of the West Bank, which had been slated for Jan. 20.

In addition, Israel will release Palestinian prisoners accused of anti-Israeli activity and open a route for Palestinians to travel between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Erekat and his counterpart, Oded Eran, met in Jerusalem late Saturday to work out an agenda for the negotiations on the 6.1 percent withdrawal, prisoner release and opening of the "safe passage," Erekat said.

Arafat and Barak also agreed this week that negotiations on a framework agreement on the thorniest issues between them and on the scope of an additional West Bank withdrawal will begin after March 20 (a Muslim holiday) in Washington.

Talks between the two sides broke off in early February over disagreements on what territories would be included in the next two withdrawals. The Palestinians had demanded that the upcoming pullout include areas around Jerusalem and that the next withdrawal be larger than the 1 percent of the West Bank that Israel had originally said it would offer.

The Haaretz newspaper reported Friday that Barak will, before a final peace agreement, offer the Palestinians a state in the Gaza Strip and 50 percent of the West Bank. In exchange, the Palestinians would agree that Israel could annex 10 percent of the West Bank where Jewish settlements are located. Officials on both sides denied the report.

The Palestinians currently control about 40 percent of the West Bank and hope to oversee 90 percent before the final peace agreement, which the sides hope to iron out by Sept. 13.

Israel beefed up security throughout the country Saturday since several members of a militant cell that was uncovered earlier this month have not been apprehended, the army said in a statement.

Four of the five militants in the cell were killed March 3 in a shoot-out with police in the Israeli Arab town of Taibeh. One was captured and others are still at large.

Meanwhile, some 500 Palestinians and Israelis demonstrated together in the West Bank cities of Hebron and Qalqilya on Saturday against the expansion of Jewish settlements.

Jewish settlements are one of several thorny issues the two sides are to address as part of a final peace treaty they hope to work out by Sept. 13.