Going soft on his policy of no negotiations under fire, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has given the green signal to foreign minister Shimon Peres to hold talks with senior Palestinian officials to discuss means to bring about a ceasefire. Following a meeting between Sharon and Peres on Sunday, the Prime Minister authorised the foreign minister to negotiate with Palestinian officials, but only when accompanied by a senior Israeli army officer, according to Israeli sources.
The condition that the foreign minister must be in the company of an army officer apparently aims at ensuring that Peres, a strong advocate of carrying on negotiations with Palestinians, should confine talks to ceasefire only. However, on Sunday evening's suicide bomb explosion in northern city of Haifa that wounded 15 Israelis, did not affect Sharon's intention to permit the meetings to take place.
During their meeting, Sharon told Peres that he could hold such meetings once the Palestinians take some identifiable steps to fight terror and Israel sees a noticeable reduction in palestinian attacks. Bureau Report