Abbas, Sharon set for summit

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas today accepted the resignation of a top peace negotiator who had been excluded from a summit later in the day with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The summit will be the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian meeting in nearly three years.

Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, accepted the resignation of his minister in charge of negotiations, Saeb Erekat, during a Cabinet meeting in Gaza City, Erekat told The Associated Press.

Erekat refused to say why he resigned, but he stepped down after Abbas left him out of the group that will participate in tonight’s meeting. Abbas will be accompanied by Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia and his security chief, Mohammed Dahlan. Sharon, in turn, will take along three advisers.

A key issue on the summit agenda is the US-backed “road map,” a three-stage peace plan that spells out steps towards ending violence and establishing a Palestinian state. The Palestinians have accepted the plan as is, while Sharon has listed 15 objections. Abbas will ask Sharon to accept the plan.

“In this meeting we are seeking a clear Israeli answer concerning the road map and we will not accept any reservation, not 13 – not even one,” said the Palestinian foreign minister, Nabil Shaath.

However, Sharon is not expected to comply, waiting instead to discuss his reservations with US President George W Bush in a White House meeting next week.

Israel Radio said Sharon would offer to withdraw troops from the northern end of the Gaza Strip, as a security experiment. Palestinian security forces would take control in that area, and be expected to prevent rocket fire on Israeli border communities.

If the test succeeds, Israel would withdraw from additional territory, the report said.

The Palestinians demand that Israel lift a travel ban on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who has been confined to the West Bank town of Ramallah for more than a year. They also want Israel to halt military incursions, ease closures of the West Bank and Gaza, stop targeted killings of suspected militants and release prisoners.

Israel insists that the Palestinians first rein in militants who have carried out scores of shootings and bombings in Israel in the past 31 months. Israeli officials say they will focus on security issues during the summit.

Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, meanwhile, accused Arafat of working behind the scenes to undermine peace efforts. “Arafat is doing his best to torpedo the process,” Lapid said. “I hope that (Arafat’s) efforts ... will fail. This doesn’t depend on us.”

Israel and the US consider Abbas their main negotiating partner and are boycotting Arafat, who they say is linked to terrorism.

Erekat’s resignation appeared to be both a response to his exclusion from the summit and to tensions between Abbas and Arafat.

For decades, Arafat – Erekat’s mentor – resisted sharing power with anyone and only reluctantly agreed to naming a prime minister. Abbas, meanwhile, grudgingly included Erekat in his new Cabinet, as minister in charge of negotiations with Israel.

Erekat said he told Abbas he would not change his mind. ”I wish the best of success to the government of Abu Mazen. I want to tell him, ’Go ahead in negotiations, but first you have to bring Israeli acceptance to the road map,”’ he said.

Abbas refused to comment on either the summit or Erekat’s resignation following the Cabinet meeting.

Tonight’s summit was to take place at Sharon’s residence in Jerusalem, starting at about 9:30pm (1930 BST), after the end of the Jewish Sabbath.

Meanwhile, violence continued in the West Bank.

Hamas militants fired homemade rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot today. No injuries were reported. Israeli troops later exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen in the area as they bulldozed land in a search for militants.

Three teenagers, aged 12, 13 and 15, were injured by shrapnel from the tank fire, doctors said. The 15-year-old was in critical condition.

The army did not comment immediately.

On Friday evening, the Israeli army killed a mentally ill Palestinian near the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian witnesses said. He was identified as Taher Abdeh, 23.

The army said it shot at a man after he ignored a warning shot in the air and several verbal commands to not pass through a road block. The army said it administered first aid to the man then transferred him to hospital.