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Israel Announces Meeting with Palestinian PM

   VOA News 30 June 2010
   Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak attends the weekly cabinet meeting
   in Jerusalem, 13 Jun 2010

Photo: AP

   Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak (file photo)

   Israeli  Defense Minister Ehud Barak has announced he will hold a rare
   meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss issues
   including security and the economy.
   Barak  said  Wednesday  the meeting would take place in "coming days,"
   but he did not specify a day or location.  Palestinian officials have
   not confirmed the meeting.
   He  made  the  announcement  following  talks  with U.S. Mideast envoy
   George  Mitchell,  who  returned  to  the  region this week to mediate
   another round of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
   Barak  says  the  goal, at this point, is to move to direct talks with
   Palestinians on all issues.
   The Palestinians want an independent state in areas Israel captured in
   the  1967  Arab-Israeli  War,  with  East Jerusalem as their capital.Â
   Israeli  Prime  Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the idea of a
   Palestinian state, but with strict conditions.
   On  Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said there was
   no chance of establishing an independent Palestinian state by 2012 - a
   target date set by international negotiators.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

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