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Olmert, Abbas to Meet to Salvage Talks

Contested settlement threatens to undo Annapolis process

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 26, 2007 9:30 AM CST
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(Newser) – Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas will meet tomorrow in hopes of resolving the settlement crisis that is threatening to derail the Annapolis peace process. Haaretz reports that the Israeli PM and the Palestinian leader will discuss a contested tender by the Israeli housing ministry for 307 homes to be constructed in Har Homa, a southeast Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the Green Line, the pre-Six Day War border.

"This kills the credibility of the peace process," said the Palestinian Authority's top negotiator. The Israeli PM is in a difficult position: if he accedes to Palestinian demands to respect the Green Line, then he risks losing the support of the right-wing parties that form an integral part of his coalition government. Officials in Jerusalem claim the housing tender was a low-level bureaucratic decision of which Olmert was unaware.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is seen during a meeting with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah,not seen, as part of Christmas festivities in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Monday, Dec. 24, 2007. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is seen during a meeting with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah,not seen, as part of Christmas festivities in the West Bank city of Bethlehem,...   (Associated Press)
Bacdropped by the Israeli neighborhood of Har Homa in the eastern part of Jerusalem, Palestinians walk on a street in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Monday, Dec. 24, 2007. Israel has plans to build an additional 700 apartments, in disputed east Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2008, an...
Bacdropped by the Israeli neighborhood of Har Homa in the eastern part of Jerusalem, Palestinians walk on a street in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Monday, Dec. 24, 2007. Israel has plans to build...   (Associated Press)
A Palestinian girl plays next to her house with the Israeli neighborhood of Har Homa in the eastern part of Jerusalem in the background, Sunday Dec. 23, 2007. Israel has plans to build an additional 700 apartments, in disputed east Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2008, an Israeli Cabinet...
A Palestinian girl plays next to her house with the Israeli neighborhood of Har Homa in the eastern part of Jerusalem in the background, Sunday Dec. 23, 2007. Israel has plans to build an additional 700...   (Associated Press)
Palestinian construction workers build a new housing development in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, Monday, Dec. 17, 2007. The new housing would expand Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood of about 4,000 residents in an area Palestinians claim as capital of a future state. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
Palestinian construction workers build a new housing development in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, Monday, Dec. 17, 2007. The new housing would expand Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood of...   (Associated Press)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007.   (Associated Press)
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Comment: A needless provocation
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Palestinian Authority • Israel • Ehud Olmert • Mahmoud Abbas • Palestine • settlement • Six Day War • Annapolis summit • Har Homa • Green Line

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