Peres, Arafat meet in Spain, but not to restart negotiations

POLLENSA, Spain -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres lunched together Friday, the first meeting between the two in more than a month. There was little expectation the talk would ease Mideast violence.

The two men, along with Egypt's president and Spain's prime minister, held a "serious and intense" discussion around the table on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca, said an Egyptian delegate who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

But the discussion was not intended to lead to concrete action, such as another in a succession of cease-fire calls. Since Peres lacks a mandate from his government to negotiate, no one expected dramatic results from the encounter.

The differences between Peres and his hard-line prime minister, Ariel Sharon, weighed heavily on the meeting. "We know who's calling the shots," said the Egyptian.

It was first meeting between Arafat and Peres since Sept. 26 in Gaza, where they issued a joint call for a halt in the yearlong fighting between Israelis and Palestinians. However, the truce never took hold.

On Friday in the West Bank, suspected Palestinian gunmen shot and killed an Israeli and wounded another near the Beit El settlement, north of Ramallah, an army spokes-man said. The gunmen got away.

The Peres-Arafat luncheon, in a cabin on the wooded hillside grounds of a resort hotel, was held on the sidelines of an economic conference of European Union and Mediterranean countries.

Later, the four men held a series of one-on-one meetings with each other, but Peres and Arafat did not meet alone.

Israeli media reported that Peres, in his private meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, asked the Egyptian to help recover the bodies of three Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon 13 months ago.

Peres reiterated as he arrived at the hotel that he had not come to negotiate.