Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization agreed this week to hold secret, top-level talks in an effort to break the impasse over negotiations on implementing the next phase of the Palestinian self-rule accord.
“We do not intend, until we reach agreement, to let details of the negotiations become known,” Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told reporters after meeting with PLO leader Yasser Arafat in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
“We have started talks to establish ways and procedures to carry out negotiations on the next phase of the accord,” he said.
Peres added that top-level talks involving himself, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat were the best way to overcome differences on the sensitive next phase of the self-rule accord. The next phase calls for an Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank on the eve of Palestinian elections.
Arafat said he would communicate with Peres and Rabin “through telephone, faxes and meetings.”
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