DTN News: Israel's Barak To Meet Palestinian Premier On Monday

DTN News: Israel's Barak To Meet Palestinian Premier On Monday

Source: DTN News / AFP

(NSI News Source Info) JERUSALEM, Israel - July 5, 2010: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak will meet with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad on Monday, the minister's office said.

"A meeting between Mr. Barak and Fayyad will be held on Monday," the defence ministry said without providing any details on the venue of the meeting or its agenda. Israeli public radio said the two would "discuss the peace process shortly before the departure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United States, where he will meet on Tuesday with President Barack Obama." A Palestinian official confirmed the meeting, which is due to take place at 1:30 p.m. local time (10:30 GMT). The venue has not been disclosed, probably for security reasons. On Wednesday, Barak said he would meet with Fayyad in the coming days for a rare high-level meeting between the Jewish state and Palestinian Authority. "We are due to meet in the next few days. This is not the first time we are meeting and we will talk, I assume, about the situation on the ground, about security coordination," Barak told reporters. At the time, Fayyad's office confirmed the two would meet and said Palestinians planned to discuss demands that Israel lift its Gaza blockade and stop military incursions into Palestinian cities. High-level contacts between Israel and Palestinian leaders have been virtually frozen since Israel's devastating 22-day war on the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009.