PALESTINE: Against a backdrop of a surge in violence, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon held a tense and largely unproductive meeting in Jerusalem yesterday.
The two-hour summit was soured by Israel's overnight detention of more than 50 Islamic activists in West Bank raids, a pointed sign of Mr Sharon's impatience with Mr Abbas, whom he accuses of failing to rein in militants since both sides declared a truce at a summit in Egypt last February.
Israeli officials said that Mr Sharon had told Mr Abbas that Israel would hand over two more West Bank towns to Palestinian control and consider releasing more prisoners if the Palestinians take steps to end violence.
They described the summit as a "good working meeting". However, the Palestinian version was much more downbeat, as they failed to secure Israel's agreement for moves to shore up the shaky ceasefire, including the easing of restrictions on the movement of Palestinians and the release of more prisoners.
Prime minister Ahmed Qureia expressed his disappointment with the outcome of the meeting, the first between an Israeli prime minister and a Palestinian president to be held in Jerusalem.
"Overall what was presented to us was not convincing or satisfying at all. It did not meet our expectations," Mr Qureia said at a brief post-summit press conference in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Mr Abbas had been scheduled to speak to reporters after the summit, but he sent Mr Qureia instead, an apparent sign of Palestinian disappointment over the results.
The unprecedented meeting in Mr Sharon's official residence was supposed to step up co-ordination of Israel's planned withdrawal from all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank, scheduled to begin in mid-August.
But it was dominated by Israeli's security concerns, reflecting Mr Sharon's priority that there will be no Palestinian violence before or during the disengagement. He accuses Mr Abbas of failing to disarm militants, who in the past few days killed an Israeli soldier and a settler and have continued with rocket attacks in Gaza.
"We are less than 60 days away from disengagement and we can't wait forever, we can't leave Gaza under terror," said a spokesman for Mr Sharon. "Everything hangs on him fighting terrorism." Mr Abbas says he wants to co-opt gunmen into reformed Palestinian security forces and draw their groups into mainstream politics rather than risk confrontation and continued internal conflict.
He argues that in order to convince militants to adhere to the shaky ceasefire, he needs to be able to show that Israel has taken significant steps to relieve Palestinians of the burdens of occupation.
Since last February's Egyptian summit, Israel has already released some 900 Palestinian prisoners and turned over the West Bank cities of Jericho and Tulkarm to Palestinian control as part of confidence building measures. Yesterday, Mr Sharon offered to hand over Bethlehem and Qalqilya and to release more prisoners, but only if Mr Abbas takes control of armed groups. Palestinians say Israel has not gone far enough. Mr Abbas wants to see the release of more of the 8,000 prisoners in its jails, including long serving inmates. They also want Israel to agree to allow them to reopen the Gaza Strip's airport and a safe-passage road leading from Gaza to the West Bank, both of which were closed in 2000.
Israel Radio reported after that Mr Sharon gave Mr Abbas permission to begin preparations for reopening Gaza's airport and harbour. The opening of the ports is seen as key to reducing Gaza's isolation once Israel pulls out of the coastal strip this summer. The US and the Palestinians are hoping that Israel's disengagement from Gaza will kick-start the internationally-backed "road map" peace plan, which envisages the creation of a Palestinian state.
A weekend visit to Israel and the West Bank by the US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice resulted in both sides agreeing to co-operate on the demolition of the 1,600 Gaza houses to be vacated by Israeli settlers. The agreement represented the first concrete Israeli-Palestinian co-operation in Gaza after many months of disputes.