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Olmert, Abbas Talk on Palestinian Soil
Jericho get-together signals progress in stalled peace process
By Jonas Oransky
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Posted Aug 6, 07 5:11 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas met in the West Bank city of Jericho today, the first time an Israeli head of state has been to the Palestinian territories in 7 years. The meeting was an attempt by both parties to bolster the moderate Fatah party’s standing and to bring momentum to the two-state peace process, the Times reports.
The leaders spent half of the 3-hour meeting speaking in private; Olmert said they talked “fundamental issues which are the basis for the establishment of a Palestinian state.” Just organizing the meeting was a herculean task involving many decoy cars, and the coordination of security by both parties was as much a sign of thawing relations as the meeting itself.