Peres holds "backdoor" talks with Rejoub, Nusseiba

December 28, 2006

Occupied Jerusalem - Israeli first vice premier Shimon Peres held a series of in-camera meetings with Jibril Al-Rejoub, advisor to PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, and Sirri Nusseiba, rector of Al-Quds Open University, Hebrew media reported.

The reports said that Rejoub, who is the former head of the PA preventive security apparatus in the West Bank, and Nusseiba, who previously was in charge of the Jerusalem file and who proposed an initiative that annulled the Palestinian refugees' right of return, traveled to Spain a couple of days ago for the meetings.

They said that the meetings would end on Thursday but could not pinpoint the exact issues discussed in view of secrecy of the meetings, which might end in a joint declaration on Thursday evening.

The secret meetings coincide with Abbas' declaration in Cairo on Wednesday that he proposed "backdoor" talks between the PA and Israel over major issues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Abbas told a press conference at conclusion of his Cairo visit that he offered the idea during talks with Israeli premier Ehud Olmert, who promised to study it, and added that the USA did not reject the idea.