Israeli, Palestinian negotiators want direct talks

By Staff
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DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 25 (Reuters) Israeli and Palestinian negotiators today called for direct peace talks and said they wished to stick to a 24-month timeline to reach a final agreement.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator, and Ephraim Sneh, Israeli deputy defence minister, told a media briefing that a peace accord was necessary to build an alliance of moderates in an increasingly polarised region.

''It may take six months to conclude these principles and another 18 months to conclude and iron out the details,'' Sneh told journalists at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in the Alpine ski resort of Davos.

''There is no need of mediation,'' he said. ''We can do it directly. It is the best way. But we need international as well as regional backing and support.'' Erekat applauded recent peace efforts by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as ''very practical''.

Last week, the United States invited the quartet of West Asia negotiators to meet in Washington on February 2, backing efforts to widen international involvement in long-delayed peace talks.

Negotiations stalled in 2001 after Israeli-Palestinian violence erupted. Efforts to renew them were set back again when Hamas militants won a Palestinian election last year.

A Western aid boycott was imposed to pressure Hamas to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past peace deals. Meanwhile, the United States has sought to promote moderate President Mahmoud Abbas as a negotiating partner with Israel.

Several European countries, including Germany, want the so-called Quartet -- the United States, United Nations, Russia and the European Union -- to play a bigger role in the process.

Erekat said Israel and the Palestinians wished for ''direct, bilateral negotiations'' and that third party involvement was needed only in regional terms.

''We need her help in making sure that everyone in this jungle is ready to build a road out,'' Erekat said. ''No one can negotiate on the part of the Palestinians and the Israelis.'' REUTERS SY ND2216

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