Representatives of the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers will
hold talks on Tuesday in Jerusalem for the first time since Islamic
militants seized control of the Gaza Strip, UN and Israeli
officials said on Friday.
The meeting will come a day after Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian
and Jordanian leaders get together in the Egyptian Red Sea resort
of Sharm el-Sheik to discuss prospects for resuming peace talks
that have been effectively stalled for seven years.
Efforts to restart the peace process have been complicated by
the emergence of a two-headed Palestine ruled by the Iranian-backed
Hamas in Gaza and the Western-backed Fatah in the West Bank.
But moderate regional leaders were quick to use this development
to try to promote peacemaking between Israel and moderate
Palestinians in the West Bank, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas of Fatah.
Immediately after Hamas routed Fatah-led security forces in
Gaza, Abbas expelled Hamas from its governing coalition with Fatah
and installed a new government of moderates.
In confirming the Quartet meeting, Israeli government
spokeswoman Miri Eisin said it will be of low-level envoys.
A higher-level meeting of officials from the Quartet - the
United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -
was to have taken place on Monday in Egypt. But that session was
delayed to give Quartet officials time to assess changes in the
region following Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza last week.
A UN spokesman in Jerusalem, Brenden Varma, said the officials
gathering in Jerusalem on Tuesday would be "comparing notes".
In Moscow, Sergei Yakovlev, a Russian Foreign Ministry envoy for
Middle East peacemaking, said officials "will discuss the situation
in the region, the talks for the Quartet and plans of action for
the future", Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
Abbas will meet on Saturday in Amman with Abdullah and on Sunday
in Cairo with Mubarak to coordinate Monday's summit, Abbas' office
said on Friday.
In Gaza City on Friday, deposed Palestinian Prime Minister
Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Fatah would not be able to exclude
Hamas when determining the future of the Palestinian people. And he
derided international attempts to sideline the Islamic group.
"There is a big force that nobody can wipe out," Haniyeh said in
his weekly Friday sermon, referring to Hamas.
He also promised to give a detailed political speech in coming
days to clarify the group's positions.
Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil denounced Monday's summit and
said Abbas would not be able to wipe out "Hamas' sovereignty".
In related news, a top Fatah security commander resigned on
Friday over his failure to prevent Hamas' takeover of Gaza,
Palestinian officials said. The official, Rashid Abu Shbak, headed
the Fatah-linked Internal Security force in Gaza and the West
Bank.
(China Daily via agencies June 23, 2007)
