Saturday Night, January 27, Taba talks conclusion

In contrast to the massive Israeli press coverage of the joint Palestinian-Israeli statement in Taba, the Voice of Palestine gave only a small item at 8pm on the talks, and at 9pm, it basically reiterated chief negotiator Ahmad Qreia’s (Abu Ala) comment that the main success of the talks was “the removal of ambiguity.” VOP did not go to Taba for direct live coverage, not did it feature sound bites from the scene.

In addition, neither Qreia nor any commentator at VOP echoed Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami’s optimism that the sides were closer than ever before to agreement.

Interestingly, at the time of the joint press conference in Taba (8:50 pm), VOP was broadcasting a song about martyrs (Arabic: shuhadaa).

Saturday Evening Headlines-January 27, 2001, 8 pm News Bulletin

  • Source close to the Taba talks say that the two heads of delegation-the Palestinian, Ahmad Qreia, and the Israeli, Shlomo Ben-Ami, will give a joint communique tonight that will include the conclusions reached in the negotiations;
  • Eight citizens wounded in various attacks carried out by Israeli occupation forces in various parts of the homeland;
  • His Excellency President Yasser Arafat stresses that our people are striving for an equal (or balanced) peace based on international legitimacy and international laws and the international declarations for the rights of man. He made the remarks in a press conference televised in Europe, stressing the case of the refugees, in Pont a-Terre in France;
  • Ambassador Muhammad Sbeih, the permanent Palestinian representative to the Arab League, asserts that the meeting tomorrow in the league’s headquarters in Cairo, will discuss the transfer of financial funds to the (Palestinian) National Authority decided by the last Arab Summit;
  • The world’s countries are rushing aid to India in the wake of the earthquake…resulting in 15,000 dead, and 33,000 wounded according to the most recent details.”

Nine p.m. Saturday Night Round-up

  • “A joint Palestinian-Israeli communique in Taba a little while ago about what was reached in the marathon talks of the last six days; (other headlines similar to 8 p.m.)

Details of Lead Item

“The two heads of delegation to the talks in Taba-the Palestinian, Ahmad Qreia and the Israeli, Shlomo Ben Ami-issued a joint press communique at the end of the Taba talks. And Ahmad Qreia said in the press conference a short while ago that six days were spent in serious effort discussing the four main issues that are the key to a solution: land, borders, Jerusalem and the refugees. And we reached two important goals: the first removing the ambiguity about our stances and acting as interlocutors and enabling the leadership to take decisions on the questions on the table. Qreia added that there were clashes during the talks but they were deep and serious and enabled a serious discussion between the two delegations, also allowing detailed discussion between the experts for the first time. On the question of Jerusalem, all matters were lain on the table, and on the question of the refugees, the matter of return and resettlement were set forth…There remained gaps between the two sides-large gaps. And Qreia said the serious talks improved the confidence between the two sides. The short period until the Israeli elections does NOT make possible to reach agreement.”

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