RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet on Monday in the West Bank town of Jericho, a senior Abbas aide said on Sunday.

“The meeting will happen tomorrow in Jericho,” said Nabil Amr, a political adviser to the president, in the first official confirmation of the encounter.

A senior Israeli official also confirmed the location for the talks..

It will mark the first time that the two leaders meet in the Palestinian territories, as all previous meetings have taken place in Jerusalem.

“In the talks with Olmert, president Abbas will focus on political issues and final negotiations,” Amr said.

“The most important thing is to prepare successfully and well for the meeting,” he said, referring to the international conference on Middle East peace called for by US President George W. Bush later this year.

“Both sides will work together to resolve the Palestinian issue,” he said.

“They must decide on a resolution for the final issues.” “Abbas will ask Olmert to release more Palestinian prisoners, to facilitate lives of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, to lift roadblocks and stop settlements.” The meeting follows last week's visit to the region by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was laying the groundwork for the conference amid efforts to jumpstart stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

But although Rice appeared optimistic that the two sides were ready to dive once again into the thorniest issues of their intractable conflict for the first time since 2001, it remained unclear whether they would be able to do so.

Rice, following separate midweek meetings with Olmert and Abbas, said that the Israeli premier was ready to discuss “fundamental issues.” “The prime minister said to me that he will support new discussions with (Abbas) and that he is ready to discuss the fundamental issues that will lead to negotiations soon for the creation of a Palestinian state,” Rice told reporters after meeting Abbas in the West Bank political capital of Ramallah.

—AFP