http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/718127.html
FM Tzipi Livni and Vice Premier Shimon Peres speaking to the media in
Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday. (AP)
Last update - 15:39 21/05/2006
Livni: We want to help Palestinians, not terrorists
By Aluf Benn, Arnon Regular and Ora Koren, Haaretz Correspondents
and The Associated Press
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak on Sunday afternoon to discuss developments in the Palestinian
Authority. After the meeting, at the World Economic Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh,
Livni said that Israel is trying to find ways to support the Palestinian
population without aiding terror.
Livni reiterated that Israel will not talk to Hamas as long as
three international demands - that the group disarm, recognize Israel's right
to exist, and uphold previously signed agreements - are met.
Earlier Sunday, Livni and Vice Premier Shimon Peres met with
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, after which she said that "The
road map peace initiative is still relevant."
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Livni's 30-minute meeting with Abbas was the first high level
meeting between the two sides since Hamas' surprise victory in the Palestinian
parliamentary elections earlier this year.
After meeting with Abbas, Livni noted that Israel will try to
prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Palestinian sources said ahead of the meeting that Abbas expects
the talks to lead to renewed negotiations between Israel and the PA.
National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, also
attending the conference, said Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif asked Israel
to continue holding talks with Abbas.
Nazif made the remarks during his meeting with Livni, Finance
Minister Avraham Hirchson, Peres and Tourism Minister Yitzhak Herzog, MK Silvan
Shalom (LIkud) and Avishai Braverman (Labor) also attended the meeting.
Ben-Eliezer said the Israeli delegation clarified that Israel has
no problem with the Palestinian people, and that the main problem is that the
Palestinian government is unwilling to recognize Israel.
On Saturday Peres said "there is no government policy to boycott
Abu Mazen [Abbas], but negotiations with him can begin only after the prime
minister [Ehud Olmert] returns from the U.S. That is the proper order."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to meet with Abbas only
after a planned round of talks with regional and European leaders. Olmert will
go to Britain and France in the second week of June, and in the coming weeks is
planning to meet with the president of Egypt, the king of Jordan, the
chancellor of Germany, the prime minister of Italy and the coordinator of
foreign policy in the European Union.
Livni will also meet in Sharm el-Sheikh with Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak and with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit. The foreign
ministers of Jordan and Qatar, who were to have taken part in the conference,
cancelled at the last minute.
The cabinet will on Sunday approve an arrangement to alleviate the
health crisis in Gaza: NIS 50 million of PA tax money, frozen in Israel, will
be directed to the purchase of medicines and medical equipment. This equipment
will be transferred to international aid organizations selected by Defense
Minister Amir Peretz, and the organizations will in turn transfer them to the
Palestinian health system.
The defense establishment had been deliberating whether to take the
funds from Palestinian tax money held by Israel since Hamas came into power, or
from money confiscated from Palestinian banks on suspicion that the monies were
being used to fund terror.
The cabinet will also approve Sunday the establishment of a
ministerial committee, headed by Justice Minister Haim Ramon, to implement the
conclusions of the Talia Sasson commission on illegal outposts. Another
ministerial committee, to be headed by Shimon Peres, will deal with regional
economic projects.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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