Saturday: Olmert, Abbas meet in J’lem

VIDEO - Breaking the ice: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem Saturday evening for the first time since they were elected to their respective offices.

Abbas aide Aide Nabil Abu Rdainah told Reuters following the two-hour meeting that Olmert and Abbas reached agreement on a number of issues.

"This is the beginning of a series of meetings,” he said. “It was a good meeting. There was agreement on several issues."

A Palestinian source told Ynet following the meeting that progress was made regarding the transfer of the frozen Palestinian tax funds.

The source said the sides would continue discussing the easing of restrictions imposed on the Palestinian people in the coming days.

The meeting, the first between an Israeli and Palestinian leader in a year-and-a-half, took place at the prime minister's official residence in Jerusalem.

Prior to the meeting a Palestinian official told Ynet that it would focus mainly on strengthening the ceasefire and possibly expanding it to include the West Bank.

The two were also expected to discuss an agreed upon timetable and means for releasing prisoners and the renewal of talks between the parties. Abbas’ proposal to move up the Palestinian parliamentary elections may have also been raised during the meeting.

End to PA salary crisis?

Israeli government officials expressed caution regarding the possibility that Saturday’s meeting would lead to Shalit’s release.

Meeting in Jerusalem (Photo: Avi Ochayon, GPO)

“This issue is apparently in the hands of Khaled Mashaal in Damascus, with certain involvement of (Prime Minister) Ismail Haniyeh),” one official said. “Abbas has no control over the abducted soldier, but hopefully he will bring us some news on the matter.”

Hamas' spokesman Dr. Ismail Radwan said the meeting would not serve the Palestinian interest and would only be a source for applying pressure and political extortion on the Authority and its president.

Radwan warned Abbas against agreeing to concessions to Israel in exchange for the release of a small amount of prisoners.

Increased pressure to meet

A Palestinian source told Ynet that "we are hoping that at the end of the meeting Abbas will be able to officially announce that the Palestinians' salaries will be paid."

This will occur if an agreement is reached regarding releasing the Palestinian Authority's tax money which has been frozen by Israel since the Hamas government was elected.

Olmert's Chief of Staff Yoram Turbowicz and Foreign Policy Advisor Shalom Turjeman recently met recently with their Palestinian counterparts, Saeb Erekat and Rafiq Husseini to make the final preparations for the meeting.

A number of Israeli ministers, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, have already met with the Palestinian president in recent months.

In the past few weeks western leaders have attempted to pressure Olmert and Abbas into meeting and advancing the diplomatic dialogue; this pressure intensified following the declaration of a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on November 6.

A week ago, during British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s visit to the region, Abbas said he would be willing to meet with the Israeli PM, this he after he had refrained form doing so in light of the chaos within the Authority and pressure from Hamas.

Independent Palestinian news agency Maan reported that the meeting was made possible as soon as most of the disagreements preventing it were solved.

The main controversial issue is the release of prisoners – regarding which Israel agreed for the first time to select the prisoners to be released together with the Palestinians as part of a prisoner exchange deal.

It appears as though the lines of communication between Olmert and Abbas were reopened last Thursday after the PM’s associates stressed before the Palestinian president that Israel's restraint policy in the face of Qassam attacks will not last long.

"If the Qassam fire continues, we will have no other option but to respond," an official close to the PM said at the time.

Ali Waked and AP contributed to the report