Palestinian president leaves Ramallah to meet Olmert скачать в хорошем качестве

Palestinian president leaves Ramallah to meet Olmert

(27 Dec 2007) SHOTLIST Bitunya crossing, between Ramallah and Jerusalem 1. Wide of crossing point 2. Sign reading: (Arabic, Hebrew and English) "Welcome to Ofer Transit Terminal" 3. Pan of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' convoy crossing 4. Various, security at crossing Jerusalem 5. Various, security outside official residence of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert 6. Various of Abbas' convoy arriving with police escort 7. Security STORYLINE: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas travelled on Thursday from his base at Ramallah in the West Bank to Jerusalem for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. At their first summit since their pledge at the Annapolis conference to renew peace talks and try for a treaty next year, Israeli and Palestinian leaders faced a familiar obstacle on Thursday, Israeli construction in a disputed part of Jerusalem. Abbas was demanding a building freeze, appealing to the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, before the meeting to put pressure on Israel. The meeting due on Thursday afternoon, was to be the first since the two men formally relaunched peace talks at the US-sponsored Annapolis conference last month. The Jerusalem dispute has clouded the meetings of negotiating teams almost ever since the Maryland gathering. Last month, Israel announced bids for 307 new apartments in Har Homa, part of a ring of Jewish neighbourhoods around east Jerusalem where about 180,000 Israelis live. Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Abbas appealed to Rice during a phone conversation on Wednesday to press Israel on the issue of settlement construction. A US State Department spokesman said Rice had called both Abbas and Olmert, urging them to make progress toward an agreement. Under the US-backed "road map" peace plan, Israel has pledged to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank, though it has not yet done so. However, it says any building freeze does not apply to east Jerusalem, which it annexed after the 1967 war, and has refused to halt the Har Homa project, where some 8,500 Israelis have already settled. Abbas and Olmert were meeting just two weeks before US President George W. Bush visits the region, trying to build on momentum from the Annapolis conference. Efforts to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table gained traction after Islamic Hamas militants seized control of the Gaza Strip in June. Abbas, a moderate, expelled Hamas from government after the takeover, freeing him to conclude a peace agreement. Hamas, which is not party to the talks, pronounced Thursday's meeting a "waste of time." Meanwhile, on Thursday, about seven Israeli tanks pushed about 300 metres (yards) into southern Gaza, clashing with armed Hamas militants, witnesses said. The Israeli army did not confirm the incursion, but said it had carried out an air strike in the area after a border patrol was attacked with gunfire and mortars. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...