RAMALLAH, West Bank: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet next week in Jerusalem to discuss US-backed peace negotiations, a senior Palestinian official said yesterday.
“President Abbas will meet Olmert on Monday (Nov. 17) in Jerusalem,” said Saeb Erekat, a senior negotiator in peace talks with the Jewish state.
The two leaders are expected to discuss the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas and deteriorating humanitarian and security situations in Gaza. Erekat said that Abbas will ask Olmert to alleviate the economic siege imposed on Gaza Strip after Hamas violently seized the coastal enclave last year. Erekat added in a press statement that Abbas will also discuss Israel’s ongoing settlement expansion in the West Bank “in light of media reports that (Israeli Defense Minister Ehud) Barak has approved dozens of construction projects in West Bank settlements.”
Meanwhile, Knesset Member Gilad Erdan of rightist Likud party called for targeted assassinations of heads of Palestinian armed groups.
