Olmert, Abbas agree to formal talks

PETRA, Jordan -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas embraced each other yesterday and agreed to hold their first formal meeting in 18 months, raising hopes for a new phase in Middle East peacemaking.

Olmert vowed to make ``painful compromises" in the cause of peace and also apologized for the deaths of innocent Palestinians in Israeli rocket attacks.

He said he would continue to refuse to negotiate with leaders of Hamas, which controls the Palestinian Legislature and Cabinet, because the Islamist movement advocates the destruction of Israel and has carried out numerous suicide attacks against Israelis. But Olmert praised Abbas, the elected president from the rival Fatah movement, and said they would meet formally within weeks.

``This is a great step forward," Olmert said in a public conversation with writer and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel at a conference of laureates held in this ancient desert city.

Setting a new tone, the two leaders embraced warmly before sitting down to an informal breakfast meeting hosted by Jordan's King Abdullah on the sidelines of the gathering.

Wiesel, a survivor of the Nazi death camps and a lifelong human rights activist who cohosted the conference, said the two men chatted about the World Cup before deciding to speed up preparations for formal talks.

``They embraced, the first gesture," said Wiesel.

``We decided we will meet in a matter of weeks," said Olmert. ``This will not be the only meeting."

Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said he expected it to take place in early July.

``That meeting must be prepared well so that we can reach real agreement, in order to reach positive results. Supposedly it would be within the coming two weeks," Abu Rudeineh said .

Addressing the Nobel laureates after the breakfast, Olmert said he was prepared to make ``painful compromises" to achieve peace, and said Israel would pull out of ``the majority" of the West Bank.

``I am ready to put on the line everything for one purpose, to achieve peace, to make compromise, to pull out of certain territories. We must make the painful compromise in order to reach common ground with the Palestinians," he said.

He also apologized for the deaths of Palestinian civilians, including children, in recent Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, saying he felt ``deep regret for the death of innocent Palestinians."

``I can understand the sadness and the rage among those Palestinians," he said. ``It is against our policy, and I am very, very sorry."

But he said the airstrikes would go on as long as Palestinian militants continued their rocket barrages across the Gaza border into Israel.

Olmert praised Abbas as ``a genuine person" with ``serious intentions that ought to be recognized and respected." But Olmert ruled out negotiations with Hamas, which defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections in January. ``I will fight terrorists, not negotiate with terrorists," he said.

``I pray the Palestinians will have the courage to get rid of extremists and fundamentalists and put in place the right people to move on recognition," he said.

Olmert's comments were made a day after Abbas denounced suicide attacks as ``crimes against humanity" and said suicide bombers ``will go to hell."

Abbas said he expected Hamas to endorse a new political program implicitly recognizing Israel's right to exist ``in the next few days."

Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres of Israel, who with Abbas was an architect of the Oslo peace process, blamed the militants for the stalemate in peace talks.

``Israel would have sat at the negotiating table a long time ago and the Palestinians would have a state were it not for the Palestinian terror and the Kassam rocket fire," Peres told reporters at the Petra conference.

But Abu Rudeineh blamed Israel for the delay. ``We are waiting for the Israelis. We are ready, the Israelis are not ready. The first day Olmert took office we told the Israelis we are ready to open negotiations, and we are waiting for them," he said in an interview.

Hamas denounced Abbas for meeting with Olmert.

``We had expected, amid the continued Palestinian blood of Zionist massacres, that the president of the Palestinian Authority would declare he would not meet this terrorist until the killing stopped and until the siege against the Palestinian government and its people was lifted," Hamas said in a statement faxed to news agencies.

Opening the conference on Wednesday, King Abdullah II urged both Abbas and Olmert to begin with confidence-building measures before going back to negotiations .

``As history shows, cooperation often starts best in areas of practical benefit and shared technical expertise. We need to strengthen such experiences for Palestinians and Israelis," Abdullah said.

Responding to a question from Wiesel, Olmert laughingly acknowledged that he had changed his hard-line opinions under the influence of his wife and children, who are known for their left-wing views. Two weeks ag o, Olmert's daughter was photographed at a demonstration protesting Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

``I must admit that I have changed, and in a certain way I am very proud that I have changed, because I think change is a source of strength," he said.

``I must admit that I was genuinely influenced by my family," he said. ``And I am very proud of it."

Wrapping up three days of discussions by Nobel laureates in a program titled ``The World in Danger," Wiesel said the Olmert-Abbas meeting had been a major highlight.

``It was worth it to have these three days just to see you and Abbas together with friendship and warmth," said Wiesel.