Abbas says will meet Olmert next week

Bethlehem (West Bank), Apr 10: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today said he would hold talks next week with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The meeting would be the first between the two leaders since they agreed, during a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month, to hold talks once every two weeks.

''My meeting with Olmert will be (held) next week,'' President Abbas told reporters.

He did not say where the talks would take place. A spokesman for Prime Minister Olmert had no immediate comment.

PM Olmert has said that President Abbas's power-sharing partnership with Hamas Islamists and the continued captivity of an Israeli soldier seized by Gaza militants 10 months ago, meant that no real progress towards Palestinian statehood could be made in their face-to-face meetings.

He and President Abbas last met, at the prime minister's official resident in Jerusalem, on March 11.

Reuters