Olmert, Abbas agree on teams to tackle statehood

JERUSALEM, Sep 10 (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed today to set up negotiating teams to find common ground ahead of a US-sponsored West Asia peace conference.

Olmert is seeking a broadbrush ''declaration of principles'' for the international gathering planned for mid- to late November.

Abbas wants an explicit ''framework'' agreement with a timeline for implementation.

It is unclear to what extent Olmert is prepared to meet Abbas's appeal to delve deeply into the ''final status'' issues key to the establishment of a Palestinian state -- borders, the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

''The meeting with Mr Olmert was successful at several levels and we will pursue the contacts,'' Abbas, of the Fatah faction, told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

''Today we agreed on setting up ... working groups to prepare for the talks on statehood, not more.'' During a three-hour meeting at his official Jerusalem residence, Olmert told Abbas he would ask his cabinet to approve the release of Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture, Palestinian officials said.

Israel is expected to free around 100 Fatah prisoners for the Ramadan fast month, which begins this week.

Israel cautioned against expecting major final status breakthroughs, either before or during the conference that Washington proposed as a counterpoint to the violent seizure of the Gaza Strip by Hamas Islamists in June.

Washington is pushing a reluctant Israel to make tangible progress to avoid disappointment at the meeting, which Western diplomats said could culminate in an agreement to relaunch full-blown peace negotiations.

''SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT'' At their meeting, Olmert and Abbas ''emphasised the importance of their joint commitment to a two-state solution and decided to appoint teams in order to work towards achieving this goal'', said Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin.

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said the appointment of the teams was a ''significant development'' but offered few details.

''They (Olmert and Abbas) now believe it is time to take it to the next level, to engage on the substance of how to achieve a two-state solution,'' Erekat said.

A senior Palestinian official close to Abbas said Washington was exerting ''immense pressure'' on both sides to draft an agreed document before the conference.

Eisin said the leaders did not set timetables at their talks.

''Both sides would like to see the success of the international meeting, but the meeting (in November) is not the end-game,'' she said.

Olmert and Abbas have been meeting regularly since Hamas's takeover of Gaza and are keen to show progress ahead of next week's visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Eisin said Olmert and Abbas had agreed to meet again within two weeks. An opinion poll found that only 26 per cent of the Palestinians it surveyed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip expect the West Asia conference to succeed.

The bilateral meetings and the conference are part of a US-led campaign to shore up the Fatah leader's hold on power in the occupied West Bank and to isolate Hamas in Gaza.

Olmert has also been weakened politically since last year's war in Lebanon, raising doubts among Israelis and Palestinians over his ability to deliver on any peace promises.

REUTERS RAR RAI2346