MIDDLE EAST: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meet in Jerusalem to continue post-Annapolis peace talks

Record ID: 644341

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meet in Jerusalem to continue post-Annapolis peace talks
  • Date: 7th April 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) BETUNIA (OFER) CHECKPOINT, WEST BANK (APRIL 7, 2008) (REUTERS) CLOSE OF ROAD SIGN READING 'RAMALLAH' WIDE OF CROSSING SIGN READING 'WELCOME TO OFER TRANSIT TERMINAL' WIDE OF PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS' CONVOY DRIVING THROUGH CHECKPOINT
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7FV52FKAP08I53UPW7QPBDVEO
  • Story Text: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrives at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office in Jerusalem on Monday (April 7) to assess the state of peace talks, a senior Abbas aide said.
    Monday's meeting was the first between the two leaders since Abbas briefly broke off talks last month following Israel's killing of over 120 Palestinians, many of whom civilians, in an offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
    Israel said the incursion was intended to counter cross-border rocket fire by militants.
    Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurie have led regular negotiating sessions but these have shown little sign of progress since their launch at a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November.
    The sides are trying to reach a framework agreement by the end of 2008 that would outline the shape of a future Palestinian state.
    Olmert has stated that implementation of any agreement would only take place once Abbas has reined West Bank and Gaza Strip militants, as called for under a long-stalled "road map" peace plan.
    Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Abbas would present his position that Israel has not met any of its initial commitments under the road map plan.
    Israel has yet to halt all settlement activity and uproot Jewish outposts in the West Bank built without Israeli government authorisation, as stated in the road map.
    U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that neither Israel nor the Palestinians had done "nearly enough" to meet peacemaking obligations.
    Olmert and Abbas last met on February 19.
    Erekat said Abbas would also raise the situation in the Gaza Strip and the possibility of opening border crossings in and out of the blockaded territory which is ruled by Islamist Hamas who wrested control from Abbas's forces there in June.
    Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Abbas of collaborating with the U.S. and Israel against the Palestinians people.

    "The meeting today between Abbas and Olmert is a farce. President Mahmoud Abbas is challenging the feelings of his people who suffer under siege, killing, under aggression and settlement. President Abbas is insisting on meeting the Israeli occupation regime," said Barhoum and added that "He is only a guard to the Zionist-American project and moreover he is the executor of these projects on ground, he is destroying the Palestinian people's rights for his own benefits. "
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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