An American committee headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch is preparing a detailed file on the ongoing negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis ahead of submitting it to the new United States administration, The Media Line (TML) has learned.

Yassir ‘Abd Rabboh, top aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas, said that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had informed the Palestinians of this development at their meeting with her in New York in September.

American consul general in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, told TML that, “I think we will have a smooth transition on our side. There have already been discussions between the administration and both of the campaigns; now that we know who the next president will be that work will begin on Thursday, and I think it will be a very smooth transition and there will not be any problems on our side."

This issue will be at the top of the agenda of the meetings scheduled for Rice with both the Israeli and Palestinian leadership starting from Friday, and will be discussed in detail at the Quartet meeting at the Egyptian resort, Sharm A-Sheikh on Sunday.

The future of the peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis is of great concern for the Palestinians, and, more importantly, they want it to kick off from the point it had reached after the new American and Israeli administrations are in place early next year.

Ideally, the Palestinians would like the negotiations to start immediately after the inauguration of the new U.S. administration headed by president-elect Barack Obama.

Speaking to a Palestinian gathering in Ramallah, Walles tried to calm Palestinian fears: “I know that in Ramallah the one issue that people care about the most is peace in this region. This is an issue that I believe president-elect Obama will give priority to; it is an issue he cares about. He visited Ramallah twice while he was a U.S. senator,” Walles said.

“This commitment does not mean that this issue, this problem, is any easier to solve. It will always be a difficult problem and will require a lot of effort; but here again the president-elect offers his hope as well as his commitment to try to solve this problem,” he added.

Palestinians are looking ahead to the Quartet meeting in Sharm, where U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union Javier Solana, European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Rice, together with Quartet representative Tony Blair, will be meeting with both the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Israel will be represented by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, while the Palestinian delegation will be headed by P.A. chairman ‘Abbas.
The European peace envoy, Marc Otte, who will also attend the meeting, said that, “We expect at this point to open a new format; that is, for the Quartet to meet with the negotiators and to listen. I welcome very much the fact that this is the first time we are going to sit down at the ministerial level to hear the progress that has been made since Annapolis and to draw together the necessary policy conclusions for the future."

Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Qurei’ said, “It is intended that this meeting will concentrate on the continuation of this process, to find ways to bring it to a successful conclusion, and to remove all the obstacles that destroy trust between the two sides, such as settlement activities, military checkpoints, the situation in Jerusalem, the closure of the [P.A.] institutions in Jerusalem and the destruction of houses in Jerusalem.

“The Quartet should tackle all these issues and find the right basis for this process to achieve its goals, and demand that both the coming U.S. administration and the coming Israeli administration keep its commitment to the process and maintain its priorities,” he added.

In the meantime, Palestinians are encouraged by the fact that Obama won the presidential elections in the United States and are demanding that he immediately engage in the peace process.

‘Abd Rabboh said, “I’m feeling optimistic that there is a new chance available for our people. Everybody, including Hamas, should realize that this opportunity is needed from our side to provide the conditions for its success through gathering around the national political Palestinian platform, the platform of the PLO."

In its last meeting in New York, the Quartet underlined “its commitment to the irreversibility of the negotiations."

Palestinians feel that this will be possible if Livni wins the Israeli elections, but are wondering if this will also be the case if Binyamin Netanyahu is successful.