Israelis, Palestinians resume high-level talks

Israelis ease some restrictions against Palestinians

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Erakat: Ease of restrictions not a solution

Israeli election may have final word on deal

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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli and Palestinians negotiators were in high-level peace talks early Friday morning, renewing hopes of reaching some kind of deal before U.S. President Bill Clinton leaves office.

The talks began just before midnight at Erez Crossing in Gaza, three weeks after the last high-level contacts in Washington. It followed a series of security meetings that led Thursday to the easing of Israel's blockade on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

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CNN's Mike Hanna reports that Israel is easing restrictions on the movements of Palestinians

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Disenchantment means Sharon is ahead in the polls, CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports (January 11)

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Erakat is interviewed by CNN, saying Israeli moves were not a solution to the conflict and Sharon's positions were 'the classical recipe for war' (January 11)

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Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami cut short a trip to Paris to return to Israel on Thursday for the meeting, a senior Israeli official told CNN.

The meeting will "examine how to continue the efforts to reduce the level of violence, how to improve the coordination, and to see whether we can proceed in a positive manner and in negotiations before the end of the Clinton administration," the official said.

"And to find out how it is possible to conclude the passive negotiations, assuming that there is no violence," he said several hours before the meeting began. " We will be meeting tonight to try to conclude how to proceed."

Officials said that Ben-Ami, Israeli senior negotiator Gilead Sher and negotiator Amnon Shahak were meeting with Palestinian negotiators Saeb Erakat, Ahmed Quorei and Yasser Abed Rabbo for talks on a framework for final negotiations.

Israel radio said "dramatic developments in the peace process" necessitated the foreign minister's return. Ben-Ami, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, was to have met with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to discuss the peace process on Friday.

Earlier in the day, results of high-level security meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials took shape, as Israel eased some of the tight travel restrictions it had imposed on the Palestinian territories.

The restrictions resulted from an ongoing spate of deadly violence that began almost four months ago. At least 391 people -- 335 Palestinians, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, and 43 Israeli Jews and 13 Israeli Arabs, according to the Israel Defense Forces -- have been killed since September 28.

Israeli tanks pulled off the main north-south road near the Netzarim Jewish settlement in Gaza on Thursday, and bulldozers removed concrete barriers that had kept Palestinians from entering southern Gaza for weeks.

The Israelis also reopened Gaza International Airport and travel routes between the West Bank and Jordan, and between Gaza and Egypt, according to The Associated Press. Blockades against the West Bank towns of Jenin and Qalqiliya were also lifted.

Negotiations to end the latest violence -- and the 52-year conflict between Israelis and Palestinians -- were heading down to the wire for Clinton, who leaves office on January 20 and had hoped to seal a peace accord by then.

But wrangling over religious sites in Jerusalem, the fate of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, the ongoing violence and the travel restrictions brought the talks to a near standstill.

Clinton had planned to send Mideast envoy Dennis Ross to the region this week to talk with both sides, but he held off while the security talks continued.

Erakat: Ease of restrictions not a solution

Israel's ease of restrictions was part of a plan submitted to both sides last week by U.S. CIA Director George Tenet, according to the AP. The wire service reported that the U.S. timetable called for a complete lifting of travel restrictions within the next few days.

Brig. Gen. Abdel Razek Majaida, a Palestinian security chief, told the AP that joint security patrols would be resumed in 10 days.

But chief Palestinian negotiator Erakat told CNN that the Israeli moves were not a solution to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

"We asked the Israeli side to take a genuine step toward peace by lifting restrictions," Erakat said. "Unfortunately they chose selective steps."

Israeli election may have final word on deal

Israeli officials, too, were cautious about the latest moves, which came just hours after meetings between top security officials and Erakat and Israeli Cabinet Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak at the Gaza-Israel border.

Lipkin-Shahak told Reuters that "the real test will be on the ground" -- whether the easing of restrictions is followed with a reduction in violence.

While Clinton still hopes to complete some kind of agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians in his last nine days in office, the fate of such a deal would not be certain.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak faces an uphill re-election battle in a February 6 vote, and his challenger -- Likud leader Ariel Sharon, who currently holds a double-digit lead in polls -- has promised not to honor any deal negotiated by Barak.

Sharon launched his campaign Wednesday, telling hard-line nationalist and religious supporters that concessions must be made for peace -- but for him, "concessions" mean that Israel won't reconquer Palestinian territories.

Erakat told CNN that Sharon's positions were "the classical recipe for war."

"If this man carries out a fraction of what he is saying, if he wins this election, he's going to send the whole region down the drain," Erakat said.

CNN Correspondents Jerrold Kessel, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.