Abbas Pulls Out of Planned Talks With Sharon

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday pulled out of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon because of a dispute over a prisoner release, dealing a new blow to a U.S.-backed peace plan.

The meeting today would have provided a chance to ease rising tension over disagreements that are fueling doubts that a three-month truce announced by Palestinian militants a month ago will hold.

The meeting was to coincide with Israel’s planned release of Palestinian prisoners, a gesture unsuccessfully aimed at building trust. Palestinians say that too few inmates are slated to be freed.

U.S. officials predicted renewed diplomacy during the next few weeks -- including a possible visit to the region by national security advisor Condoleezza Rice -- to try to win concessions from each side to keep the peace plan alive.

“The Middle East doesn’t stay on a plateau very long. It tends to roll back, and we understand that,” a senior Bush administration official said at the president’s ranch near Crawford, Texas.

Washington is seeking to keep up the momentum of the U.S.-backed peace plan, known as the “road map,” by pressing Israel to reroute a barrier it is erecting on Palestinian land in the West Bank, and pushing Palestinians to follow through on commitments to disarm militants.

Israel says the barrier is needed to keep out suicide bombers who have killed hundreds of its citizens during the 34-month-old Palestinian uprising.

Palestinians call the project a land grab that prejudges final borders to be decided under the peace plan.

“We have expressed our concern to the Israelis about the fence,” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said. “The Israelis have stated that they are considering the route of the fence to minimize the impact on the daily lives of the Palestinian people.”

The senior White House official said the fence, as it is now envisioned, “entrenches very heavily into land that at best is in dispute.” Washington would like Israel to give up the fence altogether; given Israel’s refusal, however, the Bush administration would like the barrier rerouted.

Straining relations with the Palestinians further, Israel extended its 2-year-old closure of Orient House, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s headquarters in East Jerusalem, for six more months.

Israeli authorities had charged that the Palestinian Authority was operating out of Orient House -- where diplomatic and social welfare activities were held -- in violation of interim peace deals, an allegation denied by the Palestinians.