Labor and Meretz representatives, including the personal adviser of Labor chair Amram Mitzna, met last week in London with representatives of the Palestinian Authority.

The meetings tooks place under the auspices of the Peres Center for Peace. Mitzna´s aide, along with those of Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Haim Ramon, Matan Vilnai, Zahava Gal-On and Roman Bronfman, met with a Palestinian delegation that included Mahmoud Yaseen, who is in charge of protocol in Arafat´s office, and the assistants of Information Minister Yasser Abd Rabbo, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), Nabil Shaath, Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) and others.

"These meetings, designed to renew the dialogue between the parties, were planned a long time ago and did not take place until now for various reasons," explained the director of the Peres Center for Peace, Ron Pundak.

"It was made clear in the meetings that the real differences between the sides are not related to substance but rather to a lack of trust because of the conflict in the last two years," Pundak noted.

Both sides have expressed the will to reach peace and live in mutual respect and recognition, and to end the occupation and the terror. This is the only way to promise both nations a future of good neighborly relations, peace and security within safe borders based on international recognition and other initiatives, such as the Arab peace initiative and the speech made by President Bush last June, the parties said. (© Copyright 2002 Ha´aretz 12/22/02)