Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat resigned Friday, a day before a key meeting has been set between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas. His resignation further jeopardised the international roadmap for peace as tension on the ground remained high, with the Israeli army staging a massive military operation in the northern Gaza Strip. A large number of Israeli troops backed by 70 armoured vehicles and helicopters were sweeping areas of the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, a day after an army incursion in which five Palestinians were killed. The Jericho MP said he handed in his resignation to Abbas but refused to explain why. Official Palestinian sources said Erakat resented his exclusion from the meeting with Sharon, while interior security minister Mohammad Dahlan and parliamentary speaker Ahmad Qorei were invited.
Maybe Abbas is smarter than we thought? Arafat was keeping him diminished, and Erekat was Yassers' boy |