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Talks may revive peace process

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA (BAHRAIN) JULY 9. Against the backdrop of U.S. pressure on the Palestinian Authority to undertake reforms, the Israelis and Palestinians have begun discussions that could see movement towards the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

The Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, who held talks — the first such meeting in months — with the new Palestinian Finance Minister, Salam Fayed, on Monday, today met the new Palestinian Interior Minister, Abdel Razik Yehiyeh. This meeting, believed to be crucial, will be followed by discussions between the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, his Defence Minister Bejamin Ben-El-Iezer and the Finance Minister, Silvan Shalom. Mr. Peres' inputs to this meeting is likely to influence Israel's diplomatic stance after the U.S. President, George Bush's recent observations on the West Asia situation.

In recent remarks at a White House press conference, Mr. Bush said Palestinian reforms that will create "enough confidence" were about to be initiated. In his observations, he had also called upon Israel to allow Palestinian people more freedom of movement as the security situation there improved. According to media reports, talks between Mr. Peres and Mr. Yehiyeh focussed on the possibility of a partial release of funds frozen by Israel to the Palestinians.

While the U.S. side is keen that these funds are made available to the Palestinians as a confidence-building measure, there is strong resistance to this move by Mr. Sharon. The Israeli Prime Minister wants a foolproof arrangement, which will ensure that this money is not diverted toward terrorist activity, to precede any conciliatory steps by his Government. The U.S. side, on the other hand, wants the spending to be supervised by international monitors to ensure that the money is used for improving the economic situation in the Palestinian areas.

On the security side, the Palestinian Authority is engaged in undertaking sweeping reforms being carried out in close co-ordination with the Egyptians. Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence chief, is the point person engaged in this exercise. The Egyptian plan seeks to unite all security and intelligence services under the Palestinian Authority under one civilian head. The implementation of this plan has seen the appointment of Mr. Yihyeh as the Palestinian Authority's Interior Minister as well as the positioning of Zuhair Mansara as the head of the Interior Ministry controlled Preventive Security establishment. The acceptability of Mr. Mansara within the Palestinian security fold is, however, still in doubt.

As the Palestinian reforms get underway, the Israeli authorities are set to re-engage the Europeans, who have expressed reservations about the U.S. call for a "regime change" in the Palestinian Authority.

Next week, Mr. Peres will visit Denmark, which is set to assume the European Union presidency.

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