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Israeli, Palestinian Leaders To Lay Roots For Peace Talk

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By STEVE WEIZMAN, The Associated Press

Published: September 9, 2007

JERUSALEM - The Palestinian president and the Israeli prime minister are to meet early this week in Jerusalem before an expected visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and key meetings of international mediators, officials said Saturday.

Palestinian officials said Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert would meet Monday. David Baker, an official in Olmert's office, said the date was not final but it could be Monday or Tuesday.

Abbas, the Palestinian, and Olmert, the Israeli, last held talks in Jerusalem in August. They have met regularly in recent months as part of a U.S.-backed effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and convene an international peace conference expected in November in Washington.

In preparation, the 'Quartet' of Mideast mediators - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - is to convene in Washington toward the end of September and meet members of an Arab League committee that has been promoting a pan-Arab plan for peace with Israel.

Senior diplomats say a conference must produce tangible results. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday asked the U.S. government to be painstaking in its preparations.

While Fatah loyalists in Gaza have kept a low profile since the violent Hamas takeover in June, there are signs that a comeback could be brewing. With the Gaza economy in tatters and Hamas suffering from an international boycott, its leadership appears to be showing signs of strain while Fatah backers are slowly regaining confidence.

On Saturday, a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli army fire near the Gaza-Israel border, a Palestinian health official said.

The Israeli military could not confirm the casualty.

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