Peres Meets With Palestinian
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met with Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayed on Monday in the first Cabinet-level meeting between an Israeli and a Palestinian in four months.
Yoram Dori, a spokesman for Peres, said the meeting lasted about an hour and covered economic issues. Fayed said that this was a preparatory meeting and that he expected “more expanded meetings will be held in the future between us.”
Israeli officials said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had given the go-ahead for the meeting on the condition that the deliberations not touch on peace issues.
Israeli Army Radio said Fayed and Peres discussed transferring to the Palestinian Authority tax revenues that Israel has collected from Palestinian workers. Israel has frozen the funds during the current conflict.
A senior Palestinian official said Interior Minister Abdel-Razak Yehiyeh would also see Peres in the next 24 hours.
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