RAMALLAH (PIC)– PA chief Mahmoud Abbas is to meet Israeli premier Ehud Olmert next Monday in Jericho in the first such visit by an Israeli premier to a PA-run territory.
The meeting follows Abbas’s insistence on refusing any dialogue with the Hamas Movement to patch up differences. Abbas on Tuesday escalated his attack against Hamas charging it with harboring Al-Qaida militants in the Gaza Strip which was met with dismay in the Palestinian arena and strong Hamas denial.
Meanwhile two of Olmert’s aides are reportedly in Washington to prepare for US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice’s scheduled visit to the region next Tuesday.
Israeli foreign minister Tzipil Livni for her part on Sunday discussed with premier of the so-called PA emergency government Salam Fayyad means of “improving the Palestinians’ living conditions while taking into consideration Israel’s security interests”.
