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Israel-PLO talks end with little progress

EILAT, (Israel): Israel and the PLO ended on Friday intensive talks on expanding Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank with little progress made, a senior PLO negotiator said.

An aide to Yasser Arafat said the PLO leader would meet Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Monday to try to speed up the talks. Nabil Abu Rdainah said Peres telephoned Arafat and they agreed to meet, but a venue was still to be determined.

Israeli and PLO negotiators met for five days at a secluded hotel in Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat to discuss the second stage of their 1993 peace accord.

"We did not resolve the hard core issues despite working day and night," Ahmed Korei, known as Abu Alaa, told Reuters. He listed the main issues as the redeployment of Israeli troops away from Arab communities and security matters.

An Israeli official close to the talks said the only progress made was on the transfer by Israel of civilian powers to the Palestinians. He confirmed that problems remained in security arrangements and troop redeployment.

Peres spokeswoman Behira Burdugo said a meeting with Arafat was likely but did not know when it would be.

Israel and the PLO are trying to hammer out an agreement that would allow the Gaza-based Palestinian Authority to expand its control in the West Bank.

Under its 1993 peace accord with the PLO, Israel agreed to pull out its forces from West Bank Palestinian population centres, hand over control to the Palestinian Authority and allow the nearly two million Arabs to elect a governing council.

But Israel's concern over security for more than 100,000 Jewish settlers has delayed expansion of Palestinian self-rule.

Palestinian officials accused Israeli delegates of stalling, saying they appeared to lack authority to make decisions.

"I believe that the Israeli negotiators until now had no power or a green light from the political echelons to make decisions," said Palestinian Authority member Zakariya al-Agha on Israel's Arabic radio.-Reuter