STATEMENT FROM PM SHARON'S BUREAU AFTER MEETING WITH ABU MAZEN
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Sunday, July 20, 2003

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met today (Sunday), 20.7.2003, at his Jerusalem
residence with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian
Ministers Mohammed Dahlan, Hisham Abdalraziq and Nabil Amr. The meeting
lasted for approximately two hours and was conducted in a pleasant
atmosphere.

Prime Minister Sharon opened by saying that he is pleased to be meeting with
his Palestinian counterpart for the fourth time, and both leaders agreed
that their joint meetings are one of the more important achievements of the
peace process.

Prime Minister Sharon said that Israel is unable to ignore the fact that
recently there has been an increase in terror and incitement, as well as the
strengthening of the terror organizations, which the Palestinian Authority
has reached agreements with. The Prime minister stressed that the terror
organizations present a daily threat to the ceasefire agreement, and that
the Israeli public feels that it is dependent on the desires of the
terrorists.

The Prime Minister asked his Palestinian counterpart to take immediate and
definite action to dismantle the terror organizations and added that once
this has been carried out, Israel's ability to answer the needs of the
Palestinians will be significantly increased.

Prime Minister Sharon and Prime Minister Abbas discussed the issue of
releasing prisoners. Prime Minister Sharon said that he plans to convene the
committee for releasing prisoners this Wednesday, 23.7.2003, and the list of
prisoners to be released will be formulated soon. The Prime Minister added
that following his return from the US, the committee will be reconvened and
will reevaluate the criteria by which prisoners are released.

Prime Minister Sharon and Prime Minister Abbas agreed that Palestinian
Minister for Prisoner Affairs, Hisham Abdalraziq will soon meet with ISA
Director Avi Dichter, in order to discuss the way and conditions by which
the prisoners will be released.

Additional matters that were discussed included the freedom of movement for
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, the separation fence and
illegal outposts. It was agreed that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz will
immediately hold talks on the issue of IDF checkpoints and will pinpoint
those that can be removed in order to ease travel for the Palestinian
population. It was also agreed that the Defense Minister would meet with
Minister Dahlan in order to discuss the possibility of transferring
additional cities to Palestinian control in accordance with Prime Minister
Sharon's assurance that there will be no IDF presence in areas where the
Palestinian Authority assumes responsibility.

Prime Minister Sharon and Prime Minister Abbas agreed they would meet again
upon the Prime Minister's return from the US.