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Thursday September 27, 2007

Israel-Qatar meeting bright spot at U.N. conference

special to j.

At the 62nd annual United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Israel did enjoy one early, positive development.

Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni spoke with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Kalifa Al-Thani in an impromptu meeting made at the emir’s behest.

Livni discussed with the emir the importance of moderate Islamic nations — like Qatar — supporting the Palestinians in advancing the diplomatic process. Officials described the meeting as “extremely positive.”

Diplomatic sources said the meeting had important public relations significance.

In the period leading up to the U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference scheduled for November, Israel is making widespread efforts at diplomacy with the moderate Arab nations of the Persian Gulf.

Both the United States and Israel are trying to influence the moderate nations to openly support a Palestinian-Israeli agreement, and to back up Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ moderate government — instead of Hamas — in diplomatic negotiations. Throughout the U.N. assembly, the Israeli government received generally warm sympathetic treatment from the Persian Gulf countries.

In the past, the emir had met with Shimon Peres, before the Knesset appointed Peres to the presidency.

At the time, Peres presented ideas for cooperative economic projects in the Middle East, as well as his plan to establish an economic “peace corridor” from Eilat and Aqaba to the Yarmouk River that would serve Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians.

During the meeting with Peres, Al-Thani expressed his willingness to have open relations with Israel, and even invited the Israeli diplomat to visit Qatar in the future.

In another move meant to bolster Abbas prior to the peace conference, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week announced Israel will release 87 Palestinian prisoners in early October.

Olmert hopes the gesture will help strengthen Abbas in his rivalry with Hamas. In a similar gesture, Israel released about 250 prisoners in July.

Israel has said none of the prisoners are serving time for attacks on Israelis. Most of the prisoners come from Abbas’ Fatah movement, and none belong to Hamas.

Despite the gesture, Israel and the Palestinians do not see eye-to-eye on the potential ramifications of the meeting. While Abbas has pushed for work on an outline for a peace deal, the Israelis are unwilling to talk specifics.

Appearing Monday, Sept. 24 with Abbas after an hour-long meeting that included Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, President Bush didn’t mention the conference publicly.

“I believe that the vision of two states living side-by-side in peace is achievable,” Bush said. “We want to help you realize that goal.”

But Abbas said teams of Palestinians and Israelis will negotiate on the issues “ready and ripe” for the conference, and said it should help lead to a permanent deal.

“We have faith and trust,” Abbas said, emphasizing a hopeful tone about the process. “We believe very strongly in your vision of establishing a Palestinian, independent, viable state.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is shuttling between the United States and the region to build momentum for the conference, which the U.S. hopes will include Syria. While Olmert announced he has “no problem” with the U.S. proposal to invite Syrian representatives, Syria has indicated an unwillingness to attend.

The meeting is hitting other snags as well. Besides the Palestinian-Israeli disagreement, traditional Arab allies — namely Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — have said they are not interested in the session unless it has clear goals and a realistic chance of achieving them.

j. staff writer Joe Eskenazi, Yitzhak Benhorin of Ynetnews.com and Jennifer Loven and Ben Feller of The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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