Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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December 27, 2007

Olmert, Abbas Meet in Jerusalem to Advance Peace Talks
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1AB8531:A6F02AD83191E160813A5D6FB7365A682A201403E89ED254& Meeting between
two leaders is first since they agreed to formally relaunch talks at
US-sponsored peace conference last month Israeli and Palestinian
leaders held a summit meeting today in Jerusalem in a bid to advance
the Middle East peace process. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's
Jerusalem bureau, the talks were overshadowed by a dispute over Jewish
settlement construction.







Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (R) shakes hands with Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting in Jerusalem, 27 Dec
2007Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas held their first meeting since they agreed to resume
peace talks at the Annapolis Conference in the United States a month
ago. The summit took place in a sour atmosphere, after Israel decided
to build more than 300 homes in the Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa in
disputed East Jerusalem. The neighborhood is built on land the
Palestinians claim for a future state.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the construction violates the
internationally-backed "roadmap" peace plan on which the negotiations
are based.

"The main point is we're urging the Israeli side to stop all
settlement activities including natural growth, in order to give peace
the chance it deserves," he said.

Israel says the roadmap does not apply to the Jewish neighborhoods of
East Jerusalem because they will remain a part of the country in any
final peace agreement.

"And obviously when we have these meetings, the Palestinian side
brings its concerns to the table, we bring our concerns to the table
and the idea is to try to find common ground," said Israeli spokesman
Mark Regev.

But there is little common ground on the settlement issue. The dispute
underscores how hard it will be to achieve the goal of Annapolis: a
final peace agreement by the end of next year.




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