a meeting with the Palestinian leader today, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed releasing some prisoners, lifting some West Bank roadblocks and establishing a team to work on a broad agreement in advance of a US-sponsored peace conference in November.

In their first meeting on Palestinian soil, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today he hopes to launch negotiations “soon” on establishing a Palestinian state, his clearest promise yet to tackle a final peace deal.

Flatbed trucks rumbled out of the Gaza Strip today carrying office furniture, computers and uniforms out of an army base, the Israeli military’s first concrete step toward a planned pullout this summer.

The Israeli military was delivering the bodies of 15 militants to the Palestinians for burial today, a day after Israel’s cabinet approved the names of 500 prisoners to be released and security commanders prepared for the handover of a West Bank town to Palestinian control.