GAZA CITY, 24 December 2006 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held a long-overdue summit in Jerusalem yesterday, reviving hopes that peace talks can resume after years of fighting, hostility and distrust.

The meeting, announced just hours before it began, marked the first substantial talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in 22 months. It comes at a time when both men are facing serious political problems at home and stand to gain domestic support with a peace breakthrough.

Olmert emerged from his official residence in Jerusalem to greet Abbas. The two shook hands and also kissed each other on the cheek. Abbas was then introduced to Olmert’s wife Aliza, an artist known for her dovish views. The two leaders took seats opposite each other at a long table, set for a meal and covered by white cloth. Israeli and Palestinian flags served as table decorations.

Key issues on the agenda were the release of tax rebates and other funds Israel collected for the Palestinians but froze after Hamas came to power. The two leaders were also likely to discuss an easing of Israeli travel restrictions in the West Bank and the fate of an Israel soldier captured in June.

Palestinian officials have said in the past Abbas will not agree to a summit unless the outcome is agreed on ahead of time. It was not clear whether he got Israeli assurances on any of the issues.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said he hoped the meeting would help ease the suffering of the Palestinians and that Israel would release the frozen funds. However, Barhoum was skeptical. “We have never gotten results from such meetings in the past,” he said.

Olmert and Abbas had met once briefly over breakfast in Jordan in June, under the auspices of Jordan’s King Abdallah, but simply agreed to begin preparations on more substantive talks. The last summit took place Feb. 8, 2005, when then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with Abbas in Egypt and announced a cease-fire.

Meanwhile, gunmen opened fire on a senior Palestinian security official in Rafah yesterday, wounding him, a bodyguard and a girl in intensifying factional fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Security officials allied with Abbas blamed the drive-by attack on Hamas. Earlier yesterday, Hamas gunmen and Abbas-allied security forces briefly exchanged fire near Abbas’ Gaza City compound and the Hamas-run Foreign Ministry. Yousuf Siam, head of the preventive security apparatus branch in Rafah, told Arab News that two armed men opened fire at Maj. Hassan Jarbouh in Al-Nejma Square near Al-Shaboura refugee camp in the center of the city while he was on his way to work.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting.

The deadly confrontations in Gaza began nearly two weeks ago, with a shooting ambush that killed three young children of an Abbas-allied intelligence officer, and intensified with Abbas’ announcement last week that he is seeking new elections, in a challenge to Hamas. Hamas has accused Abbas of trying to topple its 10-month-old government.

In all, 17 people have been killed and scores wounded in factional fighting, including heavy gunbattles in densely populated neighborhoods, since the ambush on the young children.

Also, chances appeared to have receded yesterday for an early meeting between Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh under Jordanian auspices for resolving the bloody standoff between Fatah and Hamas.

Abbas was scheduled to travel to Amman, but Palestinian Ambassador to Jordan Atallah Khairy said yesterday that Abu Mazen had “postponed his trip in order to be able to attend the traditional Christmas ceremony” at the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. However, he told Arab News that he “had not been informed of a new date” for Abbas’ travel to Jordan.

— With input from A.J. Mustafa & agencies