MIDEAST: Italian PM backs Palestinian elections during trip to Ramallah; Abbas says willing to meet Olmert

Record ID: 560680

  • Title: MIDEAST: Italian PM backs Palestinian elections during trip to Ramallah; Abbas says willing to meet Olmert
  • Date: 21st December 2006
  • Summary: (W3) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (DECEMBER 21, 2006) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS GREETING ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MASSIMO D'ALEMA ABBAS AND D'ALEMA HUGGING ABBAS AND D'ALEMA MEETING
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE5UVC0V98SNAFQ79LN3A2ZH5M
  • Story Text: Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday (December 21) to discuss how the Palestinian political crisis.
    Last week Abbas called for elections for a new Palestinian government after efforts to form a unity government between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah factions have so far failed. The call for elections aimed at breaking a political deadlock with Hamas which controls the government and get Western sanctions lifted.
    Abbas's call for new presidential and parliamentary elections has triggered fierce fighting in Gaza between his Fatah forces and those loyal to Hamas, during which ten Palestinians were killed.
    Saying that if elections are held international observers will be invited, Abbas did add that the, "Door is still open for a limited time for efforts to form a unity government."
    Hamas, which trounced Abbas's once dominant Fatah in parliamentary elections last January, has said it would boycott any new polls. No date has been announced.
    D'Alema said Rome will support Abbas's call for elections if efforts at forming a unity government fail.
    "It is clear that if this possibility (forming a Palestinian unity government) does not come about, the proposal to have new elections would seem to us to be the democratic way out of this crisis and the only way to give the Palestinian people the ability to chose their future," he told a news conference.
    The visiting foreign minister told Abbas that he hoped European powers might be able to draw up an EU initiative aimed at re-starting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
    Abbas announced he hoped to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before the end of the year as both leaders push to resume long-stalled peace talks.
    Abbas said preparations were underway for the summit.
    "We are always ready to meet Mr. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. We are not revealing a secret that we hold meetings to prepare for this summit. We are not revealing a secret when we say that the meeting will take place before the end of this year," Abbas said.
    If a meeting does come off, it would be the first between the two since Olmert took office in January.
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