Israel willing to talk with Arab League: Israeli PM

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-04-15 17:33

JERUSALEM, -Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on April 15 that he is willing to talk with representative of Arab States to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on its website.

Olmert was quoted as saying at the weekly cabinet meeting that, "Israel will make every effort to find a final solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

He added that, there are positive aspects in the 2002 Saudi peace initiative, and Israel is willing to talk with any representative of Arab States, and would like to hear their ideas, just as they would hear Israel's ideas.

Meanwhile, according to another Israeli daily, the Jerusalem Post, Olmert also reiterated at the meeting that, the aforementioned discussions did not constitute an Israeli acceptance of all the principles of the initiative, which was ratified for a second time at an Arab League summit in Riyadh last month.

Olmert also adressed his upcoming meeting with Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, which is scheduled to be held on Sunday afternoon, and said that he intends to demand Abbas to fight terror and stand by his commitments to release kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Yedioth Ahronoth said Olmert made it clear that he would not discuss the status of Jerusalem, the return of Palestinian refugees or Israeli retreating to the 1967 border in his meeting with Abbas.



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