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Abbas for outline deal with Israel

RAMALLAH: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are to meet in the West Bank town of Jericho on Sunday, the Ramallah-based Al-Ayyam daily reported on Saturday. The report said the meeting in Jeri cho will be the first of its kind to be held in a Palestinian-controlled territory as the former meetings between the two leaders all took place abroad or in Israel’s Jerusalem.

“The meeting on Sunday will be part of a series of meetings that would be held between the two men within the coming three months,” the report quoted senior Palestinian officials as saying. It said that the serial meetings between Mr. Olmert and Mr. Abbas aim at establishing a framework leading to a permanent solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The framework to be agreed upon during the summit will later be “presented to the international peace conference” proposed by U.S. President George W. Bush. They also ruled out the possibility of holding early elections in the Palestinian territories before the international peace conference to be chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Ms. Rice, who just wrapped up her regional tour on Thursday, urged Mr. Abbas and Mr. Olmert during her meetings with them to deepen and intensify their future talks in the coming weeks, according to the Palestinian sources.

They disclosed that Ms. Rice also conveyed to Mr. Abbas Prime Minister Olmert’s readiness to “discuss basic and substantial issues” with the Palestinian side.

In response, Mr. Abbas expressed his readiness to reach “a declaration of principles” or a “framework deal” with Israel, which envisions an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, said the sources. — Xinhua

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