Sharon Held Talks With Top Palestinians

Reuters / ABC ^

[RCW2001]

Sharon Held Talks with Top Palestinians

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon held a meeting this week with top Palestinian officials, the first such talks he has held since his election a year ago, Israel Radio said on Friday.

A spokesman for Sharon declined to comment on the report. There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority.

The radio said Sharon held the talks in Jerusalem on Wednesday with Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Korei, Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammed Rashid, an economic adviser to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Korei and Abbas are also known respectively as Abu Ala and Abu Mazen.

The report said Sharon asked them to tell Arafat he must fight terrorism and make clear that Israeli pressure on the Palestinian leader would continue. Israel has said it will keep Arafat confined to the West Bank city of Ramallah until he hands over the killers of an Israeli cabinet minister.

The radio said that in line with Sharon's refusal to resume peace talks while a Palestinian uprising rages, his discussions with the three men focused only on stopping violence.

[richwolo]

I do believe it is a good sign. One thing for sure however, he is not there on his own accord. I believe it was due to arm twisting by The US Government and the local opposition party(s). My last recollection is that Sharon's popularity rating was reported to be low 60s in a poll taken by the JP.

[veronica]

Arafat is OUT. Sharon has succeeded in making him 'irrelevant.'

Sharon does he pleases, in the best interest of Israel. Which is why I like him so much. IF this happened he did it for his own reasons to serve his own agenda.

[modern_orthodox]

it'd be really interesting to see if Sharon is trying to cut Arafat out of the loop.

[veronica]

Note that Bush meets with Sharon but not Arafat. He knows who the bad guy is....(-:

[weikel]

Ah how is Sharon a nazi he is fighting Pali terrorist.

[weikel]

The original 1948 partition plan land was bought and paid for by Jews. The rest was won in defensive wars.

[weikel]

Guess you want the commie appeaser Peres.

[weikel]

Also yes if someone buys land im a squatter on they can boot me off its basic property rights.

[modern_orthodox]

So if the Martian's landed in California and started buying up the real estate with wadss of money (instead of using ray guns) and booting out the humans saying the land was originally theirs as taught by their god , the almighty EriVonDaniken, then I guess you would go along with that.

as long as they pay for it with legal tender, they can do whatever they want with it.

[weikel]

Ive looked at his forum comments on other subjects he defended Castro and said Cuba was better than other S American countries( not Chile or Brazil and its definitely not better than Batista's Cuba). I think he is a Eurotrash commie disruptor. Probably anti semitic too.

[veronica]

WHY SHARON SUCCEEDS

February 6, 2002 -- 'One year ago today, Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister of Israel in the most one-sided election in the nation's history. Since then, he has managed to turn what was essentially a repudiation of the previous incumbent into a major personal triumph.

It's a triumph that has fundamentally altered Israel's relationship with Washington for the better - as should be obvious tomorrow when Sharon arrives in Washington for a sitdown with President Bush.

Sharon's grip on the premiership remains firm. Political storm clouds may loom on the horizon, but Sharon remains wildly popular, still enjoying a better than 2-to-1 lead in the polls over his potential opponents.'