Israeli and Palestinian officials will hold more meetings next week on ways to revive stalled Middle East peace moves, the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, said yesterday.
But the key Palestinian negotiator, Mr Saeb Erekat, played down the significance of the meetings, saying they would not constitute negotiations on the handover of more West Bank land to the Palestinians.
"There will be regular meetings next week between Abu Mazen [Palestinian negotiator, Mahmoud Abbas] and Minister Kahalani," Mr Arafat said after meeting Israeli Public Security Minister, Mr Avigdor Kahalani.
The two men held 90 minutes of talks in the West Bank town of Ramallah two days after Palestinians called off a brief series of negotiations on an American peace initiative.
Most Israelis support the transfer of 13 per cent of the West Bank to Palestinian rule as outlined in a US initiative to revive peacemaking, according to a poll published yesterday.
The Gallup poll, which surveyed 560 people for the daily newspaper, Maariv, found that 59 per cent of the population backed a 13 per cent withdrawal. The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, has resisted the figure as harmful to the country's security.