Israelis, Palestinians planning Olmert-Abbas meeting

Jerusalem, Oct 8: Aides are planning a long-awaited summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which could revive peace talks, officials from both sides said today.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Abbas and Olmert this week to push forward such dialogue, stalled by regional violence, the election of a Hamas-led government and the abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.

The 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah fighters in Lebanon was also a factor in Israel's putting talks with the Palestinians on the back burner.

Olmert's chief of staff, Yoram Turbowicz, met chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat earlier this week to discuss the summit but they have not yet set a date for it, an official in Olmert's office said. Erekat said planning for the meeting would continue.

Olmert and Abbas last met informally in June, days before Israel began a massive offensive against militants in the Gaza Strip after armed Palestinian groups in the territory abducted Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit.

The Palestinians hope Israel will release thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit. Israel is reluctant to free any Palestinians jailed for planning attacks on Israeli targets.

''We will not release prisoners before the meeting (between Abbas and Olmert) unless Shalit has been let out (first),'' the official in Olmert's office said. ''But we can have a meeting about it.'' A summit would be the first formal meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders since Olmert took over as prime minister in January after Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke. He was later elected after a parliamentary ballot.

The collapse of the last Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in 2000 helped trigger a Palestinian uprising, and prospects of new talks dwindled after the militant Hamas group beat Abbas's Fatah in a Palestinian parliamentary election earlier this year.

The United States wants to bolster Abbas, a moderate, who has been caught up in a power struggle with Hamas, which is committed to the destruction of the Jewish state.

World powers cut off direct funding to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas's election win and have said they will renew aid only if Hamas renounces violence and recognises Israel and past peace deals with it. Hamas has rejected the conditions.

Reuters