JERUSALEM, July 16: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met president Mahmud Abbas in Jerusalem on Monday amid steps to strengthen the moderate Palestinian leader in his face-off with the rival Hamas movement.

During the two leaders' first encounter since a June 25 four-way summit in Egypt, the Israeli side will insist on security issues while the Palestinians want to focus on the wider peace process, officials said.

“We want the Palestinian Authority to prove that they are fighting terror, this is the key,” Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said: “The main subject on which president Abbas will insist is a political horizon for the peace process and the start of negotiations on a final status agreement.”Abbas’s motorcade arrived from Ramallah at the Israeli premier's residence in the centre of Jerusalem amid heavy security—AFP