Abbas says he will meet Olmert next week
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will start their twice-monthly meetings next week, mostly likely Sunday, a Palestinian official said.
The two leaders had promised US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month they would hold talks every two weeks. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the first of these meetings would most likely take place Sunday. Abbas leaves for a 10-day trip to Europe on Monday.
Olmert’s office had no immediate comment.
Rice said during her latest round of shuttle diplomacy 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.
