JERUSALEM: Israel says Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to create teams to work towards achieving a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israel says Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to create teams to work towards achieving a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel also refuses to comment on recent reports about its military planes violating Syrian air space. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed in talks on Monday (September 10) to appoint teams to try to hammer out details for a future Palestinian state, Olmert's office said. Olmert and Abbas met on Monday to see if they can narrow differences over Palestinian statehood ahead of a U.S.-sponsored conference in November. Israel and the Palestinians have been keen to show progress in rapprochement efforts for next week's planned visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Washington is pushing a reluctant Israel to make tangible progress to avoid disappointment at the conference, which Western diplomats said could culminate with the relaunching of long-stalled peace talks. "When they came out of the private meeting, they made the following statement. This is the statement of both of the leaders. They both stated that they want to contribute to the success of the upcoming international meeting. They also, the two leaders also emphasised the importance of their join commitment to a two state solution, and they have decided to appoint teams in order to work toward achieving this goal. The two leaders have agreed to meet again before the Palestinian President goes to participate in New York in the United Nations assembly which is towards the end of September," Miri Eisin, spokeswoman for Israel's government said. Also on Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado. Portugal is currently serving in the presidency of the European Union which is a member of the Quartet of Middle East Negotiators - a key organisation promoting Israeli-Palestinian talks. During a news conference, Livni was asked about reports that Israeli military planes violated Syrian air space in the past week. Syrian officials have called the alleged acts as an act of "aggression." Israeli officials have not provided much comment on the reports, nor much clarification about what might have occurred. "You don't really expect me to refer to these reports. And I do not believe that further statements on this issue by either side are helpful," Livni told reporters. But Livni did talk about the ongoing dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian government led by Abbas. Livni made a distinction between the West Bank, which is controlled by Abbas's government, and Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas. "The idea is to promote this dialogue with the moderates and to find the common ground with the pragmatic leaders in an understanding, or according to an understanding in that the understandings can be achieved with the moderates - will be implemented in places in which there is a government which can implement, can deliver, and can implement its obligation according to the understandings. So basically the situation is different in Gaza in comparison to the West Bank," Livni said. The bilateral meetings and the conference are part of a U.S.-led campaign to shore up the Fatah leader's hold on power in the occupied West Bank and to isolate Hamas in Gaza. It is unclear how any agreements reached between the leaders can be put in place so long as the territories remain divided. Olmert also has been weakened politically since last year's war in Lebanon, raising doubts among Israelis and Palestinians over his ability to deliver on any peace promises. The United States has not yet spelled out publicly what it hopes to achieve at the November conference and has not sent out invitations, but it wants Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, which does not have relations with Israel, to attend.

ITN Source | September 10, 2007

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