Israeli and Palestinian summit ends on positive note

ISRAEL and the Palestinians put a positive gloss yesterday on talks between their prime ministers, setting the tone for a three-way summit led by US President George W Bush on promoting a peace “road map”.

Israel announced a series of goodwill gestures toward the Palestinians, including plans to release some prisoners, but failed to agree on terms for an Israeli troop pullback in the West Bank and Gaza Strip envisioned in the US-backed plan.

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office said the two-and-half-hour meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday evening with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas had been conducted in a “positive and very good atmosphere”.