Olmert to meet Abbas within days-officials
Source: Reuters
(Recasts with Palestinians mull wider truce deal with Israel, pvs JERUSALEM) By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, March 6 (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next week and Palestinian sources said on Tuesday he may float the idea of widening a truce deal to include the occupied West Bank. Israeli officials said the meeting could take place as soon as Sunday, and before a Palestinian unity government of Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas is formed. Abbas held further talks with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas about forming a coalition under a decision made in Saudi Arabia last month that ended a bout of factional warfare in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources close to the talks told Reuters that "the issue of a comprehensive truce (with Israel) took up a large portion of the discussion" and that Abbas would likely explore the option in his talks with Olmert. Palestinian militants agreed to a truce in November that has largely halted confrontations with Israel in Gaza, though some factions have continued firing rockets at Israel sporadically. A rocket fired from Gaza slightly injured four Israelis on Tuesday near the town of Ashkelon, the Israeli military said. Abbas wants to widen the ceasefire to include a cessation of Israeli raids and the launching of attacks on Israelis from the occupied West Bank as part of a deal that would free an Israeli soldier held in June and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Olmert has said he would discuss such a truce only as part of a deal to free the soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was captured by militants in a cross-border raid into Israel. Israel has otherwise sought a free hand to pursue militants in the West Bank to prevent suicide bombings inside Israel. CLOSING THE GAP Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-ruled Palestinian government, said Abbas and Haniyeh also tried to narrow differences over whose party would hold the powerful post of interior minister, a post that controls the security services. "The more we meet, the more the gap is narrowed," Hamad said, adding that he hoped the issue would soon be decided. Officals from Abbas's Fatah movement said the sides would try to reach agreement on who would be interior minister in further talks on Wednesday. Israel has vowed to boycott the unity government unless it recognises Israel, renounces violence and accepts interim peace deals as demanded by the Quartet of Middle East mediators. Under the deal signed in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, last month, Fatah and Hamas have a deadline of March 21 to form a joint government. The agreement contains a vague promise to "respect" previous Israeli-Palestinian pacts. But it does not commit the incoming government to abide by those pacts, nor to recognise Israel and renounce violence. Abbas and Olmert held a three-way summit last month with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that was overshadowed by differences over the power sharing deal. Rice is expected to return to the region for separate talks with Olmert and Abbas later this month, Israeli officials said. The officials said Olmert would press Abbas at talks next week to meet the demands of the Quartet -- the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations. "We are continuing the preparations and there is no specific date (set) for the meeting yet," said senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem and Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)
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