Olmert, Abbas talk Palestinian state

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas is talking with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at his official residence in Jerusalem yesterday. Olmert and Abbas met to discuss core issues of the Middle East conflict ahead of a major international peace conference.Photo: AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke at their meeting yesterday about how to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel, an Israeli government spokesman said.
The two men have met several times in recent months in an effort to bolster Abbas in his power struggle with Islamic Hamas militants and restart long-stalled peacemaking.
"They spoke about fundamental issues, about how to arrive at the solution of two states for two peoples," Israeli government spokesman David Baker said.
Olmert and Abbas tackled the major issues dividing the two sides at their meeting on Tuesday final borders, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, an Israeli official said.
It was the first time the two men discussed these matters in depth, the official said.
"These core issues have to be discussed on the way to finding a diplomatic solution of two states for two peoples," the official quoted Olmert as saying.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
Abbas pressed Israel to be more specific on how it plans to approach peace talks, saying Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's proposed "declaration of principles" would not suffice. President Bush has called for a Mideast peace conference, expected to take place in November, to advance a final Israeli-Palestinian accord.
"If there is a clear framework including final status issues, we will welcome this and go to the conference," Abbas told Voice of Palestine radio.
Pressure is mounting on the two sides to work out differences that have blocked the resumption of peace talks that stalled in 2001 amid intensifying violence.
The US has been prodding Israel and the Palestinians to make progress before the November conference. Olmert's office said Tuesday's meeting in Jerusalem was part of an attempt to reach understandings before then, but spokesman David Baker said the big three issues "would not be discussed."
Abbas and Olmert have been meeting regularly for several months, in an attempt to boost Abbas against Islamic Hamas militants who violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June. So far, there have been few concrete results, with Israel preferring to focus on general outlines and the Palestinians pressing for detailed talks on the main issues.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian government said it has ordered more than 100 charities closed following a review that the rival Hamas movement has slammed as a crackdown on the Islamists.
In an interview with several Palestinian newspapers published on Tuesday, prime minister Salam Fayyad said 103 associations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had been ordered to close.
The charities and local associations affected had "committed legal, financial and administrative violations," Fayyad said.
He denied the move targeted Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement that derives much of its support from a network of welfare agencies and associations.