Palestinian Prime Minister Mr Ahmed Qurie said today he would meet Israeli counterpart Mr Ariel Sharon if assured of moves to revive a US-backed peace plan stymied by intractable violence.
Carrying out a policy that Mr Qurie has condemned as an obstruction to efforts to restore calm, Israel expelled an alleged Palestinian militant from the West Bank to the fenced-in Gaza Strip without charges being brought against him.
Mr Kamal Idris (26) was the first in a group of 18 West Bank Palestinians slated for expulsion to the Gaza Strip to exhaust his legal appeals in Israel against the edict.
Aides to Mr Qurie, whose new cabinet is set for a parliamentary confidence vote on Wednesday, said he wanted pledges from Israel before a meeting to lift blockades on Palestinian towns and observe a truce he seeks to secure from Palestinian militants.
"For the meeting with Sharon to occur, it must be well prepared for in advance and we must agree on (what) will result from that meeting in advance, so we can break the current peace deadlock," Mr Qurie told reporters.
Mr Qurie had sent his office director Mr Hassan Abu Libdeh to meet Mr Sharon's chief of staff Mr Dov Weisglass to prepare for talks, he added. Israeli officials confirmed contacts were under way.
The "road map" initiative unveiled by US President George W. Bush in June requires Palestinians to halt militant attacks and Israel to pull back forces in occupied territory to pave the way for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The mistrustful sides are at odds over who should take what step first, paralysing the process with Washington preoccupied by Iraq and the start of its 2004 election campaign.