In licht van een top tussen Olmert en Abbas volgende week, benadrukken Fatah politici het belang van concrete resultaten (lees: Israëlische concessies).
"The most important thing to realize is that time is of the essence," Erekat said. "We need to deliver the end of occupation, a Palestinian state. If we don't have hope, Hamas will export despair to the people."
As immediate steps, Erekat said, Abbas will ask Israel to remove West Bank checkpoints that disrupt daily life and trade, and to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax funds Israel froze after Hamas came to power last year.
"The most important thing to realize is that time is of the essence," Erekat said. "We need to deliver the end of occupation, a Palestinian state. If we don't have hope, Hamas will export despair to the people."
As immediate steps, Erekat said, Abbas will ask Israel to remove West Bank checkpoints that disrupt daily life and trade, and to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax funds Israel froze after Hamas came to power last year.
Het is zeker van belang dat Israël Abbas steunt en laat zien dat de weg van onderhandelen meer oplevert dan die van strijd. Van de andere kant kan Olmert ook wel wat steun van Abbas gebruiken om zijn mensen te laten zien dat Abbas een betrouwbare partner is waaraan men concessies kan doen. Het feit dat hij zich nauwelijks verzette tegen Hamas in de Gazastrook, dat hij nauwelijks wat tegen de vele raketaanvallen deed/kon doen, en dat op de Palestijnse TV geregeld wordt opgeroepen heel historisch Palestina te bevrijden, hebben niet echt bijgedragen aan zijn geloofwaardigheid onder Israëli's. Om de top te doen slagen zouden de Palestijnen wat meer moeten focussen op wat zij zelf kunnen doen in plaats van alleen naar Israël te kijken.
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Last update - 12:32 21/06/2007
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/873543.html
Egypt to host Olmert-Abbas summit next week
By Aluf Benn, Avi Issacharoff and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has invited Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II to attend a summit in Egypt early next week, a senior aide to Abbas said Thursday.
The regional summit is scheduled to take place at the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said Thursday that "nothing has been finalized" regarding Olmert's participation in the summit.
The meeting will focus on bolstering Abbas and opening diplomatic channels between Abbas and Olmert, following the Hamas takeover in the Gaza Strip last week and the establishment of an emergency government in Ramallah over the weekend.
Rabbo said Thursday that the Palestinians demand concrete results from the gathering, and warned that if it ended without results, it would cause more harm than good.
Another senior aide to Abbas, Saeb Erekat, said Thursday that Abbas will call for a resumption of peace talks with Israel at the summit, arguing that only progress toward Palestinian statehood can serve as a true buffer against Hamas.
"The most important thing to realize is that time is of the essence," Erekat said. "We need to deliver the end of occupation, a Palestinian state. If we don't have hope, Hamas will export despair to the people."
As immediate steps, Erekat said, Abbas will ask Israel to remove West Bank checkpoints that disrupt daily life and trade, and to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax funds Israel froze after Hamas came to power last year.
Olmert reached an understanding with United States President George W. Bush during his visit to Washington on Tuesday that it is necessary to support Abbas, a senior political source in Jerusalem said Wednesday.
The decision to aid Abbas was made despite skepticism about his chances for success, in view of past experience. Olmert and Bush agreed they must not allow the impression that Abbas failed because Israel or the U.S. failed him.
On his return leg from the U.S., Olmert told reporters that he is satisfied with his visit and noted the great opportunity in the fact that Hamas is no longer in the Palestinian government.
Meanwhile, for the first time since the new Palestinian government was established, senior level contacts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority were initiated on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke Wednesday on the telephone with Salam Fayyad, the PA prime minister, and discussed the implications of the Hamas takeover in the Gaza Strip.
Livni stressed the importance of the establishment of the new government in the PA, saying that "it enables progress in matters that have been at an impasse during the period of the unity government and enables progress in the peace process."
Sources in Livni's office said that the conversation with the Palestinian PM was coordinated with Olmert.
Livni and Fayad had been in close touch during the months prior to the establishment of the Fatah-Hamas unity government, and met occasionally to discuss the political horizon of the Palestinian track.
In his first address to the Palestinian people since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Abbas went on the offensive Wednesday and angrily lashed out at the Islamic militants, accusing them of trying to build an empire of darkness in the Strip and pledging he would not talk to murderous terrorists.
Abbas was uncharacteristically harsh in his verbal attack on Hamas. He said the group attacked national symbols, including the home of Yasser Arafat.
"There is no dialogue with those murderous terrorists," he said. "Our main goal is to prevent sedition from spreading to the West Bank... to prevent violations by any party, and to deal [with everyone] equally, based on law," he said.
Abbas delivered the televised speech to the Palestine National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization, seeking approval for his recent steps, such as declaring a state of emergency, dismissing the Hamas-led unity government and setting up an emergency cabinet of moderates.
He also hinted at the possibility of replacing the Palestinian parliament, where Hamas has a majority, with the Palestine National Council. Such a measure would be necessary since under current rules, the emergency government would require parliament's approval after a month.
He said Palestinian travel documents would in the future only be issued from the West Bank and if recognized internationally, as expected would mean Gazans can no longer travel abroad.
Security personnel will be deployed in force in the West Bank to restore law and order, he added. Despite the harsh setback of losing Gaza, Abbas reiterated that the time is ripe for restarting peace talks with Israel, under the umbrella of an international conference.
At one point, Abbas also described in great detail what he said was a Hamas attempt to assassinate him. He obtained footage, he said, of Hamas members dragging large amounts of explosives through a tunnel they had dug under Gaza's main road the one he takes on his way to his office and saying this is for Abu Mazen (Abbas' nickname).
He said he sent the tape to Hamas' supreme leader, Khaled Meshal in Damascus, and to Arab leaders to illustrate Hamas intentions. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri hotly rejected Abbas' statements. "What he said was disgusting and not appropriate for the Palestinian president," the Hamas official said. "The president has harmed himself with his words."
The Palestine National Council last convened in 2004, after the death of Abbas' predecessor, Yasser Arafat, and Abbas said he would seek to reactivate the PLO, of which Hamas is not a member, presumably to bypass Hamas and strip it of legitimacy.
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