Olmert, Abbas Hold Talks on Palestinian Statehood

JERUSALEM — The Israeli and Palestinian Arab leaders discussed the broad outlines of Palestinian statehood for the first time in six years in a meeting yesterday that both sides called a small step toward breaking the paralysis in peacemaking.

In the first in a series of biweekly talks, Prime Minister Olmert and the Palestinian Arab president, Mahmoud Abbas, spent most of their time discussing day-to-day issues such as travel and trade restrictions.

But it was also the first time since the collapse of peace talks in 2001 that Palestinian Arab and Israeli leaders raised broader issues.

"It was a good beginning," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said of the two-hour meeting.

Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin called the talks "very positive," adding the two leaders broke away from their aides and spoke one on one for more than an hour.

Messrs. Olmert and Abbas plan to next meet in the West Bank town of Jericho, the first time the two leaders would come together in a Palestinian Arab town.

Israeli officials emphasized that the two sides did not go into the key elements of a final peace deal, such as borders of a Palestinian state, the future of Jerusalem, or the fate of Palestinian Arab refugees.

"We're not going to be talking about the core issues of the final status at this stage, certainly not with the issue of terrorism not being addressed adequately yet," Ms. Eisin said.

Israel says it won't address these issues as long as the Palestinian unity government comprised of Abbas's Fatah Party and the Islamic militant group Hamas fails to meet the international conditions for acceptance, including recognition of Israel.

Secretary of State Rice has urged the sides to move beyond the day-to-day issues and begin discussions on the "political horizon," referring to their ideas about a final peace settlement creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.