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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will hold their first summit during the second week of February, a senior Palestinian official said today.
Hassan abu Libdeh, the Palestinian Cabinet Secretary, said the two sides will hold a flurry of meetings this week to prepare for the summit. ‘‘We expect the summit between Abbas and Sharon within two weeks,’’ he said. ‘‘It could be on the 7th or the 8th or the 9th of February. The date will be set according to the results of the meetings this week between Palestinian and Israeli officials.’’
The talks were to begin later today in a meeting between Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian Security Adviser Mahmoud Dahlan, Abu Libdeh said. Dahlan yesterday confirmed that he is scheduled to meet with Mofaz and other Israeli officials this week.
He said the meetings would concentrate on Israeli military withdrawals from five cities in the West Bank, the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, and the status of 400 Palestinian militants wanted by Israeli authorities.
President Abbas met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo today. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, who was also present at the meeting, later said Egypt would also receive delegations from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Shaath said some 40 Palestinian police officers will go to Egypt for training next week as part of Egypt’s contribution to the new security arrangements in Gaza.
Abbas is visiting Moscow on Sunday and will meet Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexi-II.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Army shot and killed a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, medics said. An Israeli military source said the Army was unaware of the incident.
