Olmert and Abbas make progress in Jericho

Israel has promised solutions for many of the day-to-day concerns of Palestinians in Israeli-controlled areas, Palestinians President Mahmoud Abbas said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Abbas and Olmert met for three hours yesterday in the West Bank town of Jericho, and both said they talked about fundamental issues that are to pave the way toward Palestinian statehood. Olmert promised Abbas that negotiations on a final peace deal would start “soon”.

Later yesterday, Abbas said he believed Olmert was serious about making progress.

The two leaders also talked about easing the lives of Palestinians, including the removal of Israeli army roadblocks and the release of Palestinian prisoners. “After this meeting, I can say that many of the daily issues that concern the Palestinian people will find a solution,” Abbas said, but did not elaborate.

Olmert was the first Israeli leader to visit a Palestinian town after seven years of bloody fighting, and Israeli and Palestinian security forces worked together to protect him, blocking all access to the five-star hotel in the biblical oasis of Jericho where the meeting took place.

Abbas, in turn, gained some stature by hosting Olmert, at least symbolically levelling the uneven relationship of occupier and occupied.

Yet despite the goodwill, the two sides have very different ideas about what should happen next.

The Palestinians said that after years of delay, it was now time to start talking about the terms of Palestinian statehood, including final borders, removal of Israeli settlements and how to divide Jerusalem.

Israel wants to move ahead more slowly, in part because previous talks in 2000 collapsed over the so-called core issues and because Olmert may not be strong enough politically to make far-reaching concessions.

However, the US has been prodding both sides to make progress, ahead of a Middle East peace conference in the US in November. Olmert also appears eager to prop up the moderate Abbas, particularly after the Islamic militant Hamas seized Gaza by force in June, routing the forces loyal to the Palestinian president.