Israel seeks deal with Palestinians within a year Fri Nov 2, 4:22 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hopes to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office, an Israeli government official said on Friday. In separate remarks, Olmert's deputy said talks with the Palestinians on core statehood issues, including the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, would immediately follow a U.S.-led conference due late this month or early in December.
There are big advantages to reaching an agreement before the end of Bush's term. This is the right thing to do. It is the best thing to do for both sides, the official quoted Olmert as telling German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.The official said Olmert wanted to seize the opportunity because it was impossible to know how committed the next U.S. administration would be to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Olmert also wants to take advantage of a commitment by the Bush administration that Israel can keep control in any peace deal of large Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank, on land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, the official said.The Palestinians, who have been trying to formulate with Israel a joint document for the coming conference in Annapolis, Maryland, have said they want a peace accord by August, when the campaign for the U.S. election in November 2008 heats up.
Bush will leave office in January 2009.
Speaking on Israel Television, Vice Premier Haim Ramon said: Immediately after Annapolis, when we begin to hold negotiations on a permanent agreement, certainly we will talk about Jerusalem, refugees, borders and Israel's security.
Palestinians want a timeline for a peace deal, but Israel opposes such a condition, fearing renewed violence should the talks collapse.Olmert also has said he would not implement an agreement until Palestinians fulfilled their commitments under the U.S.-backed peace road map that charts reciprocal confidence-building steps leading to statehood.Israel has said the Palestinians have failed to carry out their obligation to crack down on militants. Palestinians point to Israel's failure to uphold its pledge in the 2003 document to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank.
(Reporting by Adam Entous and Jeffrey Heller; writing by Avida Landau and Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Tim Pearce; Reuters Messaging: jeffrey.heller.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Palestinian PM wants 2,000 inmates freed NOV 3,07
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinian prime minister urged Israel on Saturday to release 2,000 Palestinian prisoners ahead of a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference, saying it was time for bold steps to raise hopes for peace. I think we need to really begin to see some bold moves in the direction of dealing with those issues of the here and now, for the people to buy into the process, Salam Fayyad said in an interview with The Associated Press. We need to rekindle signs of hope after years of deterioration.Fayyad said Palestinian negotiators have asked for the release of 2,000 of the 12,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails ahead of the conference, to be held in coming weeks in Annapolis, Md. We feel this is one area where a lot more can be done than has been done so far, he said.The prime minister also urged Israel to agree to a timeline for negotiating a final peace deal. He said that negotiators made progress in previous talks that collapsed in January 2001, and that a final peace deal could be concluded in a matter of months.
He said that after 14 years of peace efforts, it was important to set a deadline.Israel has balked at the idea, and U.S. mediators also appear cool to setting a timetable.
