Olmert deputies to meet Abbas on Palestinian crisis

JERUSALEM, May 19 (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's two senior deputies will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas next week to discuss economic cooperation, Israeli officials and diplomats said today.

Sunday's talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh between Vice Premier Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Abbas will be the highest-level bilateral contact since the militant Islamic movement Hamas won a parliamentary election in January, prompting Israel to shun the Palestinian Authority.

Livni's office said in a statement that she and Peres would hold a 30-minute meeting with Abbas and one of his senior aides, Saeb Erekat, at 0800 GMT on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum.

Diplomats said the talks would be limited to ideas for relieving a Palestinian fiscal crisis triggered by US-led economic sanctions against the new Hamas government.

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