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Abbas Wants to Meet With Israel's Olmert

Posted on: Monday, 18 December 2006, 12:00 CST

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in the West Bank on Monday he wants to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to discuss peace.

Abbas made the remarks in Ramallah after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, YNetNews reported.

We have to meet. We need each other, and we have to deal with our problems, Abbas said. Abbas also called on both major Palestinian factions -- his own Fatah party and Hamas -- to abide by a cease-fire while discussions are held.

There are no winners or losers in these gun battles -- all Palestinians lose, he said.

Blair recently has championed the cause of settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the key to resolving other issues in the region, including instability in Lebanon and the reconstruction of Iraq.

Abbas said he asked Blair to work toward ending the international economic freeze imposed on the Palestinian Authority since Hamas won parliamentary elections, and for help in negotiating the release of Palestinians in Israeli jails, the report said.

There was no immediate response to Abbas' remarks from Jerusalem.

Source: United Press International

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