Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud
Abbas will meet next week for their second summit in a month for talks that will focus on humanitarian matters rather than the core issues of the Mideast dispute, an Olmert aide said Tuesday.

"We expect them to meet next week, although an exact date has yet to be set," Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said. "It's important to keep up with these meetings in order to keep open the channel of communication."

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The two leaders met Feb. 19 along with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The Israeli daily Maariv said the coming meeting would be one-on-one, with Rice possibly coming later in March for separate meetings with the leaders.

Maariv said Olmert would try to strengthen personal ties with the Abbas, while seeking to persuade him to back off his newly-forged alliance with the militant Hamas.

Last month's summit produced few results, amid Israeli and U.S. concerns over the planned coalition government between Abbas' Fatah party and Hamas. Rice reported no progress in restarting talks on a final peace deal, the ostensible purpose of the meeting when it was announced.

Expectations plummeted after Abbas and Hamas agreed to a power-sharing deal that fell short of meeting international demands that it recognize Israel, accept previous peace deals and renounce violence. But in the coalition deal, Hamas only pledged to respect past peace agreements.

Despite the accord, Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh have so far failed to agree on the composition of a unity government, and fighting between the two sides has flared up again.

After an inconclusive session of talks Monday, Abbas and Haniyeh were expected to meet again Tuesday to discuss the crucial issue of who would be interior minister, which controls security forces.