Arafat, Barak meet in secret

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak held a sudden meeting last night in Ramallah in the West Bank. The talks - which lasted 2 hours - tackled the frame agreement draft for the final settlement and specifying the sectors from which Israel should withdraw in the west Bank on 15th of last November according to Sharm El-Sheikh accord as well as releasing the third group of the Palestinian prisoners.

Also, Israeli Radio said that the meeting was attended by Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy, senior Barak aide Danny Yatoum and chief negotiator Oded Eran.

The radio report added that on the Palestinian side the meeting was attended by the secretary of the PLO executive committee, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), and chief Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo.