Mesalha assures continuation of Barak - Arafat meetings

Nawaf Mesalha, the Israeli deputy foreign minister, asserted that "failure of the Palestinian - Israeli summit headed by Yaser Arafat and Ehud Barak on last Thursday does not mean stopping the meeting' on this level and that there must be a high ranking U.S interference for pushing forward the peace negotiations.

On his side, El-Tayeb Abd El-Rahim, the secretary general of the Palestinian presidentship, asserted that "the Israelis publicly offered maps for the final borders of the Palestinian entity which we refused and that the Israelis want to take Palestinian lands and lands on the seperative green line between Israel and the West Bank as well as on the Jordanian borders in addition to settlement blocs."