JERUSALEM, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed on Tuesday to instruct their negotiating teams to hold talks on core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an Israeli official said.

"Today the two leaders agreed to authorise the negotiating teams to conduct direct and ongoing negotiations on all the core issues," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said after the prime minister met Abbas in Jerusalem. "We expect that to start expeditiously."

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