Will Fayyad meet with Netanyahu?

JERUSALEM, April 17 (UPI) -- A dispute over tax revenue may scuttle a meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers to set up the next round of peace talks, officials said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem Tuesday to hand over a missive outlining conditions for renewed talks from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Fayyad opposes the meeting because of the tax revenue issue, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio on Tuesday morning.

An unnamed European diplomat and two Israeli officials told Haaretz Fayyad does not want to meet Netanyahu and is not interested in heading the Palestinian delegation.

The location and time of the tentative meeting had yet to be confirmed early Tuesday by Israeli and Palestinian officials, Haaretz said.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Fayyad will attend the meeting but was still waiting for confirmation, Haaretz said.

If the meeting goes ahead, it will be the first high level session in nearly 20 months and the first between Fayyad and Netanyahu, The Jerusalem Post said. Israeli officials, however, downplayed chances of a successful outcome, saying they doubt it will lead to any diplomatic breakthrough, The Jerusalem Post said.

One unnamed official said the reason Abbas is dispatching Fayyad to meet the Israeli prime minister is because he refuses to negotiate with Netanyahu himself, the daily said.

In his letter, Abbas calls on Israel to halt all settlement construction before negotiations restart, demands Israel accept the June 5, 1967, lines as a basis for a future agreement and calls for the release of all Palestinian prisoners held before the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Post said.

The two sides last met in Jordan at the end of January, culminating a month of lower-level discussions that went nowhere, the Post said.