Italian Premier Romano Prodi travels to the Middle East starting Sunday for talks with top Israeli and Palestinian officials centering on the
regional crisis and the Iranian nuclear program.

Prodi's meetings in Jerusalem on Monday includes talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and with the foreign and defense ministers. The Italian leader will also visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and the town on Sderot just outside Gaza, a favorite target of Palestinian militant rocket squads.

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In Ramallah on Tuesday, Prodi was set to hold talks with the moderate Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and new Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

He also will visit a Palestinian refugee camp.

No meetings were scheduled with representatives of Hamas, the Islamic militant that took control of Gaza by force last month, Prodi's aides said, in a sign of support for the beleaguered Abbas.