Israel bracing for US push to 'codify' status of PA talks
Jul. 24, 2008 Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST
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The US is interested in having Israel and the Palestinians codify the
progress in their talks up to now so there will be a lasting document to
serve as the basis for further negotiations following the changeover of
governments in Washington and - possibly - in Jerusalem, Israeli diplomatic
officials told The Jerusalem Post this week.

According to the officials, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will
convene a trilateral meeting in Washington on July 30 or 31 with Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni and the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator, Ahmed
Qurei.

According to the officials, the document the US is interested in emerging
from Israeli-Palestinian talks would be in lieu of a finished
"shelf-agreement" that US President George W. Bush had said at November's
Annapolis Conference he hoped to see finished by the time he left office in
January 2009.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said last week that a trilateral meeting
was in the works, though the US has not formally announced one. Rice, who
has been here 21 times over the last three years, has not visited since
mid-June.

The officials said it was becoming increasingly evident to those involved in
the talks that it appeared unlikely a comprehensive agreement would be
reached by the target date set by Bush - partly because of Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert's political problems - and that the Americans were still
interested in something tangible coming out of the talks, if only a document
charting the issues that were agreed upon.

The officials said this was important for the Bush administration so it
would leave something for the next administration to begin working with, and
also because it would obligate both the Israelis and the Palestinians down
the road.

Israeli officials said PA President Mahmoud Abbas was interested in such a
document, but that there were divisions on the matter inside the Israeli
government.

According to these officials, while Olmert was interested in this document,
Livni was less enthused. Olmert's interest, the officials said, stemmed from
a desire to leave behind something positive if he were forced from office in
the near future.

On the other hand, the officials said, Livni did not want - just a few
months before Kadima's primary - to sign a document calling for Israeli
withdrawal from large swaths of the West Bank. The officials said this would
be seized upon by Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, and would cost her
votes on Kadima's right flank.

One diplomatic official said that the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem was
trying to downplay the importance of the planned trilateral meeting, saying
it would be just another routine meeting between Rice, Livni and Qurei. On
the other hand, the Palestinians, they said, had an interest in emphasizing
the importance of the meeting, because they wanted to see a document emerge
out of the current Israeli-Palestinian talks.