News posted on November 25, 1999 JERUSALEM - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators said early on Thursday they had again failed to resolve a deadlock over a delayed Israel handover of five percent of West Bank land to Palestinian control. "We are trying our best to find a solution to this problem," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said after a marathon session with his Israeli counterpart Oded Eran at a Jerusalem hotel. Eran said he hoped the dispute would be solved in the next few days. The Israeli pullback is more than a week overdue as the sides wrangle over which areas will be handed into Palestinian control. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has refused to accept the land package offered by Israel. He reportedly wants populated areas near Jerusalem instead. Israel says that, under signed peace accords, it gets to determine which areas will be handed over. Under the peace agreement signed in September, Israel was due to give two percent of West Bank land to full Palestinian control and a further three percent to Palestinian civil control on November 15. Both sides have been careful to play down the row although Israel's Foreign Minister David Levy has accused the Palestinians of procrastinating. As the impasse drags on, negotiations aimed at formulating a blueprint for a final peace accord are being carried out in tandem. You are viewing a page out of LeatherCom.Au © 1997 Click2.com all rights reserved. |
