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Arafat meets

Ross in Gaza

GAZA: PLO leader Yasser Arafat met U.S. Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross in Gaza on Tuesday to discuss peace moves with Israel, PLO officials said.

Ross travelled to Gaza from the Israeli city of Eilat where Israeli and PLO peacemakers have been negotiating final details of a deal on expanding Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank.

"It's important. It's a step to look how to speed the negotiations," Nabil Shaath, a member of the Palestinian self-rule Authority, told reporters in Gaza just before Arafat and Ross began their meeting.

Both sides have said they hope to complete by next month a self-rule deal which includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian population centres in the West Bank and a plan for Palestinian elections.

They must still solve disputes over the future of Hebron, the only West Bank city with a Jewish settler population, and other issues before an expected signing ceremony in Washington.-Reuter