November 4, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 8, 1424

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MOSCOW, Nov 3: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said for the first time on Monday that he was ready to meet his Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Qorei while agreeing to make “concessions” in the Middle East peace process.

Sharon met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, on a three-day visit that Israeli officials said was aimed in part at forcing Moscow to admit that the so-called “roadmap” for peace that Russia has been pushing was in doubt and that new solutions were needed to the conflict.

“Israel is ready to make concessions,” said Sharon said in opening remarks during his Kremlin meeting with the Russian leader, the first in more than one year.

But Sharon added: “These concessions will not affect Israeli security.”

While Sharon’s own public statements aimed at reconciliation seemed vague, a senior official travelling with the Israeli prime minister in Moscow told AFP that the Israeli prime minister may meet Qorei “within days.”

“The prime minister thinks a meeting is possible within the next few days with Ahmed Qorei,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

“Contacts have been established ahead of such a meeting, but we have to wait and see if Abu Alaa (Qorei) succeeds in forming his new government and how things evolve,” the official said.—AFP