Chinese language - Israelis, Palestinians to resume talks

WORLD / Middle East

Israelis, Palestinians to resume talks

(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-27 08:50

JERUSALEM - Under US pressure to answer increasing Arab flexibility on
Mideast peace, Israel has agreed to resume face-to-face talks with a
moderate, Western-backed Palestinian leader who is sharing power with
Islamic Hamas militants, a US official said Monday.

In this photo released by the United States Embassy, US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, left, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert prior to their working dinner at Olmert's official residence
in Jerusalem, Monday, March 26, 2007. [AP]

Also Monday, Israel welcomed the idea of a regional peace summit,
although no such meeting is set, and Saudi Arabia suggested it would
consider changes in a dormant peace initiative that could make it more
acceptable to Israel.

The new developments came at a time of high-profile diplomacy, with
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon
both in the region for talks with Israeli and Arab leaders.

Rice has been trying to revive peace talks between Israel and the
Palestinians, with help from Arab neighbors. The odds were long even
before the latest complication posed by Hamas, a political and military
organization that Israel, the United States and the European Union count
as a terror group.

A senior US official said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to
sit down with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time
since Abbas sealed a desperation pact with the militants.

The two will hold "regular face-to-face discussions," said the official,
speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of a planned address by Rice on
Tuesday.

The coalition government was formed more than a week ago under terms that
fall short of international demands to recognize Israel, renounce
violence and accept agreements negotiated by the previous, secular
Palestinian leadership.

Abbas has called the deal the best he could get from the politically
formidable militants, and a necessary step to end deadly internal
Palestinian violence.

Olmert, who had once called Abbas a "partner for peace," said the deal
meant he would limit talks with the Palestinian leader to humanitarian or
similar immediate concerns. He initially ruled out more detailed
discussions or negotiations.

Olmert's reconsideration of that stance was a small step, since Olmert
held such sessions with Abbas before the Hamas deal, but a sign of fresh
and surprising traction toward peace talks despite the complication posed
by Hamas.

The US official said Olmert and Abbas would initially hold low-key
"confidence-building" sessions. The talks have "an open door to all
issues," the official said, but it was clear that the United States
wanted Israel to go farther.

Negotiators haggled behind closed doors for several hours Monday night,
apparently stuck over whether Olmert would fully open the door to fresh
talks over the hardest issues that divide Israel and the Palestinians,
such as the borders of an eventual Palestinian state and the fate of
disputed Jerusalem.

It was not clear when the leaders might meet, although Palestinian
officials had said US diplomats proposed a date in mid-April.

The US official said Rice will continue to raise all issues in her
separate meetings with each leader.

"The prime minister is interested in keeping an open line of dialogue
with the Palestinian Authority chairman on humanitarian and
security-related issues and has met with him twice in the last month,"
said David Baker, an official in Olmert's office.

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