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Occupied Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas failedon Sunday to achieve a breakthrough in talks on a document to present to Washington before Olmert's party names his successor next month.
Olmert, pointing with urgency, pledged at a meeting with Abbas in occupied Jerusalem that Palestinians and Israelis would try to seal a peace deal this year in line with a target set by Washington.
"We have to complete the Annapolis process this year, this year," Olmert, grasping Abbas in a handshake and using his other hand to gesture to the Palestinian leader, said emphatically as they posed for photographers at talks in occupied Jerusalem.
Abbas appeared to have been caught off-guard by Olmert's remarks. Such comments at so-called photo opportunities have been rare during previous meetings between the two men. But the scandal-plagued Olmert is up against the clock, with his Kadima party due to hold a leadership vote on September 17 to replace him.
In his comments to Abbas, Olmert was referring to US- sponsored Palestinian statehood talks that began at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last November. Washington hopes for a deal before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.
Before the meeting, Israeli officials said Olmert, who has pledged to resign after the Kadima vote but could remain Prime Minister for weeks or months before a new government is formed, would press Abbas for a document of understandings within the next two weeks.
Abbas and several of Olmert's cabinet colleagues have been cool to such an idea.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert said after the talks: "It is not realistic to expect that there's a quick fix or a shortcut. We won't solve the conflict issues on the table in two or three weeks."
Wide differences
There was no immediate Palestinian comment after the meeting.
But before the talks, Yasser Abed Rabbo, an aide to Abbas, told Reuters it was "premature to speak about a document". He said "the differences on the core issues are still very wide".
Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister and front-runner in the Kadima race, has cautioned against papering over differences with Abbas and rushing towards an accord.
Her comments were echoed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Middle East visit last week.
Cabinet minister Eli Yishai of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party said Olmert didn't have "legal legitimacy to negotiate, and certainly not to reach any agreement".
Olmert was questioned again by police on Friday. He has denied any wrongdoing in a series of corruption probes.
A senior Abbas aide said Rice had made several bridging proposals during her 25-hour visit last week and they would be discussed at the Olmert-Abbas meeting in Jerusalem.
Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister and front-runner in the Kadima race, has cautioned against papering over differences with Abbas and rushing towards an accord.
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