PLO: Measures Announced by Abbas, Sharon not Alternative to ‘Roadmap’

The Palestinian leadership has stressed that the measures announced by premiers Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon following their meeting on Thursday are not an alternative to the stipulations of the US - backed and internationally – adopted “roadmap” peace plan, which President Yasser Arafat offered to implement “immediately.”

President Arafat called an urgent meeting of the PLO executive committee on Friday to discuss the result of the meeting of Prime Minister Abbas (Abu Mazen) with his Israeli counterpart Sharon and prepare for the Aqaba summit with the US President George W. Bush, Arafat’s media adviser Nabil Abu Rudeinah said.

The PLO concluded that the measures announced after Abbas-Sharon meeting, the second in two weeks, is not an alternative to the stipulations of the first stage of the “roadmap.”

“The measures declared do not constitute a substitute to the articles of the first stage of the roadmap, particularly the issuance of a statement by each party, pledging to stop all acts of violence without exception, recognizing the completely independent, sovereign and viable State of Palestine and putting an end to incitement,” the PLO said in a statement reported by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA on Friday.

An official Palestinian source, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP that Israel had agreed to release 100 Palestinian prisoners and agreed to begin lifting the closure on the Palestinian towns and cities, which would be carried out in stages.

The Israeli delegation also agreed to increase the number of Palestinian workers allowed into Israel, the source said.

The meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), chaired by Arafat and attended by Abu Mazen, stressed that “it is necessary to act to implement all the elements of the roadmap” and said that the Palestinian leadership “is ready to implement the Palestinian obligations in parallel with the implementation of the Israeli obligations.”

The PLO stressed as well that the implementation process should be monitored by the Quartet of international diplomatic mediators, which represents the UN, the US, the EU and Russia, “as a guarantee for honest and parallel implementation” of the roadmap, so as not to get lost in the Israeli preconditions which doomed previous peace plans as well as the signed accords between the Palestinians and the Israelis to failure.

The executive committee insisted that all Palestinian detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons should be freed, as their continued detention is in violation of international legitimacy and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

According to an official Palestinian source, Israel said it would release around 100 Palestinian detainees selectively, although there was no immediate Israeli confirmation of the report.

The Palestine National Authority (PNA) Information minister Nabil Amr said only that PLO executive committee member Taysir Khaled and the longest serving Palestinian detainee Ahmed Jbarra Abu Sukkar were to go free.

The PLO leadership entrusted President Arafat and PM Abu Mazen to form the Palestinian delegations to the US-Arab summit in Sharm El-Sheikh and to the Aqaba meeting with the US president Bush.

Arafat Approves PM Abbas’ Efforts

"President Arafat approves of Abu Mazen's efforts and confirms the roadmap will be implemented immediately," Abu Rudeina said.

Following the talks between Abbas and Sharon, the Palestinian premier's delegation went directly to Arafat's headquarters in the Israeli – reoccupied West Bank town of Ramallah to brief the Palestinian president on the outcome of the meeting.

A statement from Abbas' office described the talks as "serious, candid and beneficial,” and said the acceptance of the roadmap by both sides would be "reinforced" by the Middle East summits to be held in Egypt and Jordan next week.

Abbas' office said Israel also "pledged to take some measures to pave the way for a comprehensive implementation of the roadmap,” without giving details.

Both sides would continue meeting and work on making the roadmap a success, the Palestinian prime minister's office said.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting was "very positive and the Israeli side promised to take some good steps to reduce the suffering of the Palestinian people," the Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said.

Similarly a statement issued by Sharon's office said the meeting was held in "a very good and positive atmosphere.”

"In as much as the security situation improves and remains quiet, Israel's willingness and ability to carry out positive changes will increase and thus the Palestinian population will feel the difference more," Sharon said in the statement.

Meanwhile the PNA foreign minister Nabil Shaath Saturday told the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam that Palestinian and Israeli teams are working towards an agreement on the reciprocal statements, stipulated by the “roadmap,” which are planned to be released next Wednesday at the Bush-Abbas-Sharon summit meeting in the Jordanian city port of Aqaba on the Red Sea.