After a 45-minute-meeting with US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, Shimon Peres said, on Wednesday, that Israel will be ready to hold negotiations with the Palestinians on a permanent peace deal after the March 28th Israeli Parliamentary elections, adding that the negotiations do not mean withdrawal from most of the West Bank.
According Peres, holding these negotiations will be aiming at ending the conflict between the two sides and to establish permanent borders.
Peres, who quit the Labor party late last year to join the centrist Kadima party founded by Ariel Sharon, implied that Israel was prepared to yield more territories.
During the press conference which he held after meeting with Rice, Peres denied earlier media reports stating that Sharon was going to withdraw from most of the West Bank and Jerusalem.
He added that the Acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, who was named as the interim chairman of Kadima, adopted similar positions to those of Sharon.
Meanwhile, Rice and other State Department officials, made no comment after the meeting.
Also, an Israeli source reported that Peres also demanded the United States to provide Israeli with financial support to implement the so called "Negev Development Plan".
