Barak's office denies convening secret meetings with Abu Mazen

The Israeli prime minister's office denied that Ehud Barak met during the last few weeks in a series of secret meetings with the second man in the Palestinian government, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), to discuss primary issues concerning the final status agreement.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv said in its issue yesterday that Barak tried to convince Abu Mazen to realize the necessity of reaching a bilateral agreement to determine the framework of the final situation in February, 2000, according to the specified schedule for Sharm El-Sheikh agreement.

Barak also asserted the importance of having self-control and not starting final status negotiations by releasing strict statements which might lead to a crisis between the two sides.