Olmert plans talks with Abbas

2006-01-17 21:33

Jerusalem - Israel's acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said on Tuesday he hoped to open peace negotiations with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas after the two sides hold elections.

"I hope that after the results of both our elections I can start negotiations with Abu Mazen (Abbas) with a view to a solution, on condition that he fulfils the commitments he has made," Olmert said.

The internationally drafted roadmap peace plan calls for an end to violence, Palestinian security reform, a freeze in Jewish settlement activity and the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Israel is demanding that the Palestinian Authority disarm all armed factions before re-opening talks for a permanent solution to the long-running Middle East conflict.

Radical Islamist faction Hamas, whose armed wing has been responsible for the majority of anti-Israeli attacks over the past five years, will participate in next Wednesday's Palestinian legislative election.

On March 28, Israel will go to the polls in a general election that, at least for now, stricken Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's centrist Kadima party, led on an interim basis by Olmert, is pipped to emerge the dominant player.

"We remain committed to the roadmap," Olmert told a joint news conference with Israeli President Moshe Katsav in Jerusalem.

"We demand the Palestinian Authority fight and disarm the terrorist organisations as a condition for reopening talks in the future," he said.

Sharon and Abbas met twice last year, but since an acrimonious summit in June, the Israeli leader declined to meet the Palestinian Authority president.

In an interview earlier this week, Abbas said he believed Olmert was a man with whom he could do business and that he would deal with him "without any preconceptions".

- AFP