Israel no to refugee demand

Israel no to refugee demand
Agence France Presse

TEL AVIV, JANUARY 10: Israel has rejected Palestinian demands that it allow the return of refugees or pay them compensation, a Palestinian official said after a meeting between negotiators on final status issues.

``It was totally rejected by the Israelis,'' the official said of a position paper on the refugees presented by Palestinian chief negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo to his Israeli counterpart Oded Eran. The two sides met for around 90 minutes in the West Bank town of Ramallah, their first formal negotiating session on the final status of the Palestinian territories since late December.

The two sides have committed themselves to reaching a framework agreement by mid-February ahead of a final peace settlement in September but remain poles apart on the refugee question as well as other key issues such as the future of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. The Palestinians want Israel to implement a 1948 UN resolution stipulating that refugees wishing to return to their homes shouldbe permitted to do so ``at the earliest practicable date'' and that compensation should be paid to those who choose not to return. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has insisted there will be no return of refugees to Israel, although he says it is possible some could come back to live in the Palestinian territories.

UN figures put the number of Palestinian refugees at around 3.5 million. Israeli Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben Ami said on Sunday that Barak wanted negotiators to try to reach a position paper that outlined points of agreement and discord in a bid to spur on their peace talks. Palestinian officials have expressed concern that their negotiations, which have faltered over the settlement issue, may be sidelined as Israeli and US leaders concentrate their energies on intensive peace talks with Syria.

During a telephone conversation with Barak on Saturday, Arafat ``stressed the need to achieve progress on all the tracks of the Middle East peace process,'' top advisor Nabil Abu Rudeinasaid. The two men agreed that they would meet after a planned summit between Arafat and US President Bill Clinton in Washington on January 20, he said. The same day, Israel is due to make the third of three withdrawals outlined under September's interim Sharm el-Sheikh peace accord, handing over 6.1 percent more of the West Bank to Palestinian control. At that stage, the Palestinians would have full or partial control over 40 percent of the territory that they hope will form part of a future independent state.

Saeb Erakat, who leads the Palestinian team charged with overseeing the implementation of interim peace agreements already signed with Israel, said he would meet Eran on Thursday for talks on the final troop withdrawal.

Israel-Syria talks winding down sans agreement
SHEPERDSTOWN:President Bill Clinton renewed his efforts to push Israeli and Syrian negotiators toward a land-for-peace treaty with a series of meetings, but the talks appeared to be winding down without even a tentativeagreement. White House spokesman Mike Hammer said after Clinton had met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Faoruk al-Sharaa on Sunday that "no decision has been made on whether the President will come back tomorrow."

On the sensitive issue of establishing a new border, once Israel pulls back on the Golan Heights, Levy said before departing that "nothing has been agreed upon." Clinton, who had intervened in the negotiations four times before Sunday, returned to the site of the talks after nightfall on Sunday. "He's going for meetings," a White House official said, adding, ``the process continues."