Abbas, Olmert to meet amid Jerusalem dispute
Middle East Desk Report

JERUSALEM—Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas were due to meet on Tuesday in a bid to advance peace talks amid a dispute over the thorny issue of Jerusalem.
Less than three months after relaunching the peace process at a US conference with a commitment to try to ink a deal by the end of 2008, the negotiations appear to be stalled and violence has been on the rise in Gaza.
Top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in January began talks on the “core issues” at the heart of the Middle East conflict — including Jerusalem, borders and refugees — but have still failed to agree on procedure. Olmert drew criticism from the Palestinians after saying on Sunday that the issue of Jerusalem will be the last of the core issues to be tackled.
“Jerusalem will be the last issue to be negotiated,” Olmert said. “It has been agreed, discussed and accepted between me and the president of the Palestinian Authority.” Olmert’s statement followed repeated threats by a key coalition partner, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, to quit immediately once the issue of Jerusalem is raised in the talks.
But Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat denied the two sides had agreed to separate the question of Jerusalem from the other core issues. “The issue of postponing any of the final-status questions has not come up. This is not true,” he told.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem during the 1967 war and has since declared the entire city its “eternal, undivided capital”. The international community does not recognise Israel’s annexation of the Arab eastern sector, which the Palestinians aim to make the capital of their promised future state.
Tuesday’s evening meeting in Jerusalem was to kick off with talks between the negotiating teams, followed by one-on-one talks between the two leaders, an Israeli official said. Erekat said the talks would focus on implementation of the peace blueprint known as the roadmap, which calls for Palestinians to end violence and for Israelis to freeze settlement construction in occupied Palestinian land.
Abbas has bemoaned the lack of progress, telling reporters during a tour of Gulf states last week that “we cannot talk of progress in the peace process.” His prime minister, Salam Fayyad, also expressed pessimism on Tuesday.
“It is my sense that not enough has happened over the past three months that could suggest to me that a treaty, per se, is going to be possible by the end of 2008,” he told a meeting in Jerusalem of American Jewish leaders.
That echoed remarks last week by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon that the best Israel was hoping for this year was a declaration of principles. The renewed peace talks have been marred by ongoing violence in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, where Israel launches regular air and ground raids in a bid to curb nearly daily rocket fire from the territory.
Erekat said Tuesday’s talks would also focus on Israel’s decision to seal all crossings into Gaza, sparking fears of a humanitarian crisis among the mostly impoverished population of 1.5 million.
“The leaders will also discuss during the meeting the Gaza siege, the need for a truce between the two sides (Israel and the Palestinians) in Gaza and the West Bank.”
Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian gunman in a firefight in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, bringing to at least 187 the number of people killed since the peace talks resumed.
Gaza militants also fired several rockets against southern Israel, causing some damage to buildings but no casualties, the army said. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum denounced the continuation of the talks, which he said in a statement “will have disastrous results for Palestinian rights and principles.”