WEST BANK TALKS FOR ABBAS AND OLMERT !
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has begun talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
The meeting in Jericho is the most senior meeting between the two sides in a Palestinian city for some years.
The Palestinians say they want to discuss "final status" issues such as borders, refugees and Jerusalem.
But the Israelis have said they do not want to discuss core issues, only broad principles ahead of a US-sponsored peace conference in November.
Under heavy security, the two leaders met at a resort hotel in the city just a few hundred metres (yards) from a permanent Israeli army checkpoint. Mr Olmert arrived by motorcade, escorted by two helicopters.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said before the talks that his side wished to sketch the outlines of a final peace deal and was looking to "establish the parameters" for resolving the core issues.
Palestinians want fewer Israeli checkpoints on the West Bank. "Once the parameters are established, then it can be deferred to experts [for drafting]," he added.
One of the specific issues the Palestinians want to discuss is the reduction of military checkpoints in the West Bank.
However, David Baker, an official in Mr Olmert's office, said the core issues would not be discussed.
Describing the meeting as a gesture of good will, he said it would be restricted to humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, Israeli security concerns and the institutions of a future Palestinian state.
Mr Olmert, he added, intended "for this to be a productive meeting to enable progress with the Palestinians".
A dramatic breakthrough does not seem to be imminent at these talks, says the BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem. There is immense caution and suspicion on both sides and neither leader appears to be in a strong position.
Drawing closer
Nonetheless, co-operation between the Israelis and the Fatah administration of Mr Abbas, centred on the West Bank, has improved since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June.
The takeover has left the Palestinian territories split between the two rival factions.
Israel has been trying to bolster Mr Abbas's position, freeing some Palestinian prisoners and releasing frozen Palestinian tax revenues.
Several hundred gunmen of the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades have taken advantage of an Israeli offer of amnesty and have handed in their weapons to Palestinian authorities and renounced violence.
Mr Olmert's popularity has plummeted since an inconclusive war in Lebanon last year that was intended to smash Hezbollah militants.
And it is not clear whether Mr Abbas can bring Hamas, which refuses to recognise the Israeli state, in on any deal.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The meeting in Jericho is the most senior meeting between the two sides in a Palestinian city for some years.
The Palestinians say they want to discuss "final status" issues such as borders, refugees and Jerusalem.
But the Israelis have said they do not want to discuss core issues, only broad principles ahead of a US-sponsored peace conference in November.
Under heavy security, the two leaders met at a resort hotel in the city just a few hundred metres (yards) from a permanent Israeli army checkpoint. Mr Olmert arrived by motorcade, escorted by two helicopters.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said before the talks that his side wished to sketch the outlines of a final peace deal and was looking to "establish the parameters" for resolving the core issues.
Palestinians want fewer Israeli checkpoints on the West Bank. "Once the parameters are established, then it can be deferred to experts [for drafting]," he added.
One of the specific issues the Palestinians want to discuss is the reduction of military checkpoints in the West Bank.
However, David Baker, an official in Mr Olmert's office, said the core issues would not be discussed.
Describing the meeting as a gesture of good will, he said it would be restricted to humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, Israeli security concerns and the institutions of a future Palestinian state.
Mr Olmert, he added, intended "for this to be a productive meeting to enable progress with the Palestinians".
A dramatic breakthrough does not seem to be imminent at these talks, says the BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem. There is immense caution and suspicion on both sides and neither leader appears to be in a strong position.
Drawing closer
Nonetheless, co-operation between the Israelis and the Fatah administration of Mr Abbas, centred on the West Bank, has improved since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June.
The takeover has left the Palestinian territories split between the two rival factions.
Israel has been trying to bolster Mr Abbas's position, freeing some Palestinian prisoners and releasing frozen Palestinian tax revenues.
Several hundred gunmen of the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades have taken advantage of an Israeli offer of amnesty and have handed in their weapons to Palestinian authorities and renounced violence.
Mr Olmert's popularity has plummeted since an inconclusive war in Lebanon last year that was intended to smash Hezbollah militants.
And it is not clear whether Mr Abbas can bring Hamas, which refuses to recognise the Israeli state, in on any deal.
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