We are prepared to move forward immediately with formal due diligence and the negotiation and execution of a definitive merger agreement, and believe that with adequate access to the necessary information and people, we can complete both in approximately two weeks.
The resumed talks with Mr Arafat's men will therefore be in the nature of a holding operation for the next two or three months, these sources maintain, while the negotiation with Syria, which never ceased despite its formal suspension, resolves itself one way or the other.