| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Israel-Palestine | |
| Sharon and Abbas may meet in May | |
| 2005-04-24 | |
| JERUSALEM - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plan to meet next month in what would be their first encounter in almost three months, sources on both sides said on Saturday. The meeting, likely to be in early May, is set to focus on Israel's planning withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip later this year, the sources said. Abbas and Sharon first met at a peace summit in Egypt in February but the honeymoon period has faded in recent weeks after the Israeli leader accused his Palestinian counterpart of failing to crack down on militant groups such as Hamas. Abbas has also denounced an Israeli plan to keep its large settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank, a move that has also drawn US criticism. The two leaders agreed in principle to meet at the start of next month during a phone call but did not fix a precise date, the sources said. The meeting is likely to be held before Abbas heads to Washington in mid-May for talks with US President George W. Bush, their first summit since Abbas succeeded the late Yasser Arafat at the head of the Palestinian Authority. During their previous encounter in February in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the two leaders agreed on a truce aimed at ending more than four years of deadly violence.
| |
| Posted by:Steve White |