Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya yesterday downplayed a recent
meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
"There is a continued Israeli policy of arrest and expulsion inthe West Bank
in contradiction with results of the Abbas-Olmert meeting," Haneya told a
cabinet meeting.
"The Abbas-Olmert meeting was in a valley and the Israeli policy was in
another valley," Haneya said.
Olmert met with Abbas in Jerusalem last Saturday. Israel agreed to ease
restriction on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and dismantle 27 West
Bank roadblocks.
Israel also said that it would transfer frozen tax revenues to the
Palestinians.
The United States considered the Abbas-Olmert meeting as the first step
toward establishment of a Palestinian statehood with temporary borders in two
years.
Rejecting the U.S. comments, Haneya said, "We don't trust American plans and
the United States has to recognize the Palestinians' rights and
principles."