Last update - 00:00 10/04/2007
Abbas aide: PA Chair to start bi-weekly talks with Olmert Sunday
By The Associated Press
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Dunday, Abbas' political adviser said Tuesday.
Namer Hamad told Al-Arabiya television that during the meeting, Abbas would raise the matter of a permanent status agreement, including the issues of Jerusalem, borders and refugees. He said Abbas would also bring up humanitarian matters and the day-to-day life of Palestinians.
According to Hamad, the goal of the upcoming meetings would be to build faith between the two sides.
Abbas said earlier Tuesday he would meet Olmert next week, following a recent pledge by the two men to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that they would meet every two weeks.
Abbas announced the upcoming meeting during an Easter visit to Christian leaders in Bethlehem. He did not give a date or agenda. Olmert's office had no immediate comment.
Rice said during her latest round of shuttle diplomacy last month that the first talks between the two leaders would be on practical questions, not the final status issues that would define a final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
But she did not rule out formal negotiations on those hard questions further down the line.
The most difficult issues dividing Israel and the Palestinians include the borders of an eventual Palestinian state, the fate of disputed Jerusalem and the rights of Palestinians and their descendants who left land when Israel was formed in 1948.
Olmert aides have said he will only talk to Abbas about security and humanitarian issues, as well as a general political horizon, which they did not define.
They said he could, however, start addressing final status issues once there is no more Palestinian rocket fire into Israel from Gaza and Hamas-allied militants release captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.