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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shaking hands after their meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday. (GPO)
Last update - 23:29 19/02/2008
PM meets Abbas, but Jerusalem not on agenda
By Barak Ravid and Avi Issacharoff , Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: israel, condoleezza rice 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met at the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem Tuesday evening. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the Israeli peace negotiations team, and the head of the Palestinian team, Ahmed Qureia, were also present at the meeting.

The two leaders did not discuss the sensitive issue of Jerusalem during their meeting, despite Abbas' earlier calls not to postpone addressing the contentious issue, a senior official at the Prime Minister's Office said.

"The issue of Jerusalem did not come up in the discussion. I'm not aware of changes in the Israeli position," the official said.
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Israeli officials said the leaders had agreed to accelerate peace talks.

However, senior Abbas aide and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat disputed the report that Jerusalem was not discussed, saying that the leaders had discussed "all the core issues."

Erekat said Abbas and Olmert reviewed the issues without reaching agreement and set another meeting in two weeks. Abbas also raised concerns about Israel's blockade of Gaza and pushed for release of Palestinian prisoners.

Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said following the meeting that "Israel is committed to discussing all the core issues," adding that negotiators would meet on an "almost daily" basis.

Regev said Olmert was "very clear" earlier this week when he asserted Abbas had accepted an Israeli suggestion to delay talks on Jerusalem until the end of negotiations on Palestinian statehood.

He declined to say whether the prime minister had changed his position after Palestinians this week insisted that Abbas had made no such commitment.

The two leaders began meeting regularly even before they promised U.S. President George W. Bush last November to work toward an agreement by the end of the year.

Though Olmert has said he is committed to painful compromises for peace, his government is pressing ahead with construction projects in a disputed part of Jerusalem and maintaining dozens of West Bank roadblocks, angering the Palestinians - while Abbas appears incapable of retaking control of the Gaza Strip from Hamas militants, who have been taking part in daily rocket barrages at Israel.

In Gaza City, the Hamas Cabinet released a statement saying Abbas has no mandate to make concessions to Israel.

Earlier Tuesday, Livni said that halting peace talks with the Palestinian Authority would not bring an end to terror attacks against Israelis.

"Whoever thinks stopping negotiations will stop terror is not in touch with reality," Livni told a Jerusalem conference.

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party, a key coalition ally of Olmert's, has threatened to quit the government should peace talks progress despite the ongoing Qassam rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and habitual Palestinian attacks in the West Bank.

Earlier Tuesday, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told a group of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem that little progress was being made in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and a peace agreement likely won't be possible by the end of the year if the pace isn't quickened.

"My own sense ... is that not enough has happened over the past nearly three months that could suggest to me that a treaty per se is going to be possible by the end of 2008," Fayyad told a delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. "The pace has to be stepped up significantly."

Discussing the Gaza Strip, Fayyad said success in peace negotiations would undermine support in Gaza for Hamas.

Progress in talks will create a positive dynamic, generating support in Gaza for the moderate Palestinian government he heads, Fayyad said. "How long [Gaza] will take to settle I do not know," he said.

Fayyad said the U.S. Congress had set aside $218 million in aid for the Palestinians, and he expected the funds would be transferred next month. The money is part of $7.7 billion pledged to the Palestinians by international donors at a conference in Paris in December.

Fayyad said the Palestinians were likely to hold another major investors conference in Bethlehem "immediately after" a World Economic Forum event scheduled to take place in Sharm el-Sheikh in mid-May.

Israeli source: U.S. agrees to delay talks on Jerusalem

A senior Jerusalem source said Monday that Olmert and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had agreed to defer talks on Jerusalem to the final stage of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

The source said Olmert and Rice had talked on the telephone about a week and a half ago, and that Rice accepted Olmert's position that discussing Jerusalem at the very beginning could jam the negotiations and obstruct them.

However, Abbas insisted Monday that discussions on the status of the city must not be postponed.

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  • FM: Ending peace talks now would bolster Hamas
  • Abbas to blast Israel for building in settlements, E. Jerusalem
  • Jewish, Christian leaders to U.S.: No compromise on Jerusalem
  • U.S. Reform leader says supports concessions on Jerusalem
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      1.   Just Say No 02:53  |  JJ 19/02/08
      2.   This is beyond a joke... 02:54  |  British Leftie 19/02/08
      3.   With a big grin I observe - only an idiot thought 02:56  |  Mark Lincoln 19/02/08
      4.   Stop procrastinating! 03:34  |  david 19/02/08
      5.   This is bull 03:35  |  Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 19/02/08
      6.   What sort of sick joke is this????? 04:04  |  Johnboy 19/02/08
      7.   Anyone still to the Failed Rice? 04:06  |  Ben 19/02/08
      8.   Rice and Olmert and Shas 04:42  |  howiej 19/02/08
      9.   The ROOT of the Problem 04:48  |  Ghassan 19/02/08
      10.   just say yes 04:56  |  JJ 19/02/08
      11.   Jerusalem,refugees,etc 05:50  |  Shmuelshachor 19/02/08
      12.   Palestinians treat themselves worse than anyone else treats them 05:52  |  Nechama 19/02/08
      13.   Rocket attacks. 06:29  |  sandra chitayat 19/02/08
      14.   NEGOTIATIONS COST LIVES! STOP ALL TALKS OF SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY) 06:31  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 19/02/08
      15.   you know why ? 07:12  |  tony harris 19/02/08
      16.   Abbas is NOBODY. Talks with him have mo sense. 07:19  |  V 19/02/08
      17.   Abbas taken for a ride - again! 07:24  |  Palestinian Brit 19/02/08
      18.   Without solving Jerusalem there will be no peace 07:25  |  Kris 19/02/08
      19.   If So, Americans Are Fools 07:34  |  Moshe 19/02/08
      20.   talks 07:45  |  colin 19/02/08
      21.   Before the days of Muhammad. 08:29  |  Jean Van Daem 19/02/08
      22.   There is only one reasonable to deal with Jerusalem: The Old City 08:51  |  Itamar 19/02/08
      23.   Jerusalem and Palestinian Refugees 08:54  |  Daniel 19/02/08
      24.   Lack of real partner for peace 09:06  |  Daniel 19/02/08
      25.   GIVE THEM JERUSALEM 09:46  |  SMART JEW 19/02/08
      26.   One state for all of Palestine the only solution 09:49  |  Chanalau, Tova 19/02/08
      27.   #3, MarkL has been reduced to a big grin 10:06  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 19/02/08
      28.   Abbas is correct - let`s put Jerusalem on the table 10:17  |  redmike 19/02/08
      29.   forget about peaceprocess! 10:32  |  lola 19/02/08
      30.   No right to return. 10:38  |  Charles Smyth 19/02/08
      31.   Israel is actually negotiating with the United States 10:51  |  Tarik 19/02/08
      32.   ABBAS INSISTED? INSISTED? LoL 10:55  |  indrajaya 19/02/08
      33.   Jerusalem is not for sale! 10:57  |  Avraham 19/02/08
      34.   sick joke, jOHNBOY 11:22  |  akiva (zionist) 19/02/08
      35.   Put Olmert on Trial For Complicity To Jihad Anti-Jewish Program 11:45  |  Joseph . E 19/02/08
      36.   NEGOTIATIONS 11:50  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 19/02/08
      37.   # 10 11:57  |  JJ 19/02/08
      38.   what a joke... 12:01  |  SHY 19/02/08
      39.   Sadly, once again, the U.S. is showing its "anti-Israel"......... 12:03  |  Swiss (Dino) 19/02/08
      40.   #18 kris kross again! believes in fairyland 12:08  |  v hardman 19/02/08
      41.   NEGOTIATIONS W/ FATAH TERROR!!!!! WHAT ABOUT THE ROADMAP!!!!! 12:24  |  Yaakov 19/02/08
      42.   Abbas should `do a Kosovo` and declare Pal independence. 12:30  |  Michael 19/02/08
      43.   NEGOTIATIONS W/ WHOM??? 12:33  |  Ariel 19/02/08
      44.   No one trust the Palestinian leadership 12:50  |  El-Birawi 19/02/08
      45.   what terror really means 13:00  |  jj burke 19/02/08
      46.   IS THIS ISRAEL ACTS TO BOOST ABBAS POSITION? LOL 13:01  |  indrajaya 19/02/08
      47.   Livni:Halting peace talks with PA will not end terror. 13:08  |  Akram Zekaria 19/02/08
      48.   The Peace Process didnt stop terror! 13:09  |  eddie 19/02/08
      49.   Livni: Peace talks with PA increase terror! Shows weakness. 13:14  |  Dave 19/02/08
      50.   42 inderaja 13:18  |  mike 19/02/08
      51.   Wholistic solution 13:18  |  Abraham 19/02/08
      52.   None of you seem to get the obvious 13:29  |  Ariel 19/02/08
      53.   The Talks To First Set Borders Are Dangerous 13:32  |  Joseph E . post 1 19/02/08
      54.   more suffering and misery: the particular joy of the wicked 13:34  |  Joseph E . post 2 19/02/08
      55.   #26 the midnight choo choo leaves for palestine ? 13:36  |  v hardman 19/02/08
      56.   And preventing them from working will? 13:38  |  Mark Lincoln 19/02/08
      57.   Livni: The Piece talks ARE TERROR! 13:38  |  Jeff 19/02/08
      58.   WHY DO WE NEED CONDI`S CONSENT? 13:39  |  Miriam 19/02/08
      59.   Either a 2 state solution based on the Partition Resolution of 13:43  |  lakshmi 19/02/08
      60.   Israel....goal of eternal war...Lincoln`s constant downfall 13:59  |  x-ray 19/02/08
      61.   Gaza and West Bank "two states living side by side" 14:05  |  r 19/02/08
      62.   `teghogh` JJ Burke? 14:05  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 19/02/08
      63.   #58, Miriam 14:09  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 19/02/08
      64.   Swiss, you`re right 14:17  |  sh 19/02/08
      65.   WHEN WILL ISRAEL`S TERROR CAMPAIGN END? 14:20  |  JH 19/02/08
      66.   Lakshmi - here are three more options 14:22  |  Ariel 19/02/08
      67.   cant Livni see that talks along with active terrorism are not... 14:22  |  Avi 19/02/08
      68.   These Talks Are Going Nowhere 14:23  |  Yaakov Sullivan 19/02/08
      69.   #56, Mark with the big grin 14:28  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn