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Last Updated: Apr 7th, 2008 - 22:29:18 |
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met for the first time in nearly two months on Monday with Palestinians cautioning that settlement expansion undercut the chances of a peace deal.
Abbas aide Saeb Erekat described differences over building in Jewish settlements, especially around Jerusalem, as "very deep", but Israeli officials said the leaders agreed not to allow such issues to interrupt the U.S.-brokered negotiations.
Abbas last month briefly suspended the talks, which have shown little outward sign of progress, after an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that killed more than 120 people.
"The peace process has credibility that needs to be restored. The continuation of settlement activities eats up this credibility and undermines the possibility of reaching a peace agreement," Erekat said after the meeting, the first between the leaders since mid-February.
Palestinian concerns centre on Olmert's decision to press ahead with building in major settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank despite international protests.
A senior Israeli official said Olmert told the meeting that Palestinian security forces were not doing enough to rein in militants opposed to Abbas's peace moves.
"It was agreed that despite concerns that both parties have concerning issues on the ground ... the negotiations will continue with the goal of reaching an historic agreement by the end of the year," said Mark Regev, an Olmert spokesman.
The United States has stepped up pressure on both sides to take confidence-building steps ahead of a visit by President George W. Bush in May. Washington hopes they can clinch a Palestinian statehood deal before Bush leaves office in January.
"That will require hard work," Regev said.
ASSESSMENT
Israeli officials said the latest talks, which were held at Olmert's Jerusalem residence, gave the leaders a chance to assess the state of negotiations launched at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November.
"We are negotiating in all seriousness and seek to reach a settlement to all final-status issues, but the settlement will not be at any price," Abbas said on Sunday.
Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip in June after routing Abbas's more secular Fatah forces, called the talks "a farce".
"The continuation of meetings with occupation leaders, and the exchange of smiles and kisses, does not serve our people and provide cover for the occupation's aggression," said Taher al-Nono, spokesman of Hamas's government in the Gaza Strip.
The lead negotiators -- Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie -- have been meeting regularly and took part in Monday's session with Olmert and Abbas, Israeli officials said.
Regev said both sides reiterated their commitment to implement a long-stalled "road map" peace plan, at the heart of the first final-status talks in seven years.
But he did not say when Israel would fulfill its commitments under the plan, which requires the Jewish state to halt all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and uproot outposts built without government authorization.
The road map obliges the Palestinians to rein in militants.
Washington has said neither side has done nearly enough to fulfill their obligations, but U.S. officials have in private been particularly critical of Israel for announcing a series of construction projects in and around Arab East Jerusalem.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
After a visit last week by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israel said it removed 50 roadblocks in the West Bank, a figure that could not be independently verified because the army would not release a map showing the location of the barriers. Hundreds more roadblocks remain.
Erekat said West Bank restrictions remained the same.
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