Olmert, Abbas deadlocked over summit - Israel aide

JERUSALEM, Oct 15 (Reuters) Efforts to arrange a long-awaited summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are deadlocked, a senior Israeli official today said.

''We offered Abu Mazen (Abbas) a meeting and he seemed uninterested,'' said the official, who asked not to be identified.

''We are still offering, but he (Abbas) said it was conditional on (Israel) releasing (Palestinian) prisoners, and we will not free prisoners until Gilad Shalit is released.'' Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, an aide to Abbas, said preparations for a meeting between the leaders were continuing.

Shalit, an Israeli soldier, was abducted by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip in June. They have demanded Israel release hundreds of Palestinians from its jails in return for the soldier.

Olmert's chief of staff, Yoram Turbowicz, met Erekat earlier this month to discuss the summit, but no date for a meeting was announced.

The United States hopes talks between the two leaders could help bolster Abbas, a moderate caught up in a power struggle with the Islamic militant movement Hamas, which defeated his Fatah group in Palestinian elections in January.

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.

Abbas and Olmert last met, informally, in June, days before Israel began an offensive against militants in the Gaza Strip after the soldier was seized.

REUTERS SY MIR RN1938