JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime minister Olmert meets visiting Japan FM Aso as Japan resumes aid to Palestinian Authority

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as part of a three-day visit aimed at encouraging peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis and to coordinate the resumption of direct aid to the Palestinian Authority. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with the Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso at his Jerusalem office on Tuesday (August 14). Aso began his visit by meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday (August 13). During a short press conference, Foreign Minister Aso said he was looking forward to the implementation of a Japanese designed agro-economic zone in the West Bank. The project is still under development. On Tuesday, Aso met Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. A Japanese official said on Monday Japan would resume direct aid to the Palestinian Authority after boycotting a previous Hamas-led government for more than a year. Japan had joined an international aide embargo on the Palestinian Authority after Hamas Islamists won parliamentary elections in 2006. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah dismissed the Hamas-led government and formed a cabinet led by Western-educated Salam Fayyad after the Islamic group seized control of the Gaza Strip in a brief civil war. Fayyad's office said the money will mainly be used to support Abbas's government in the occupied West Bank and provide humanitarian aide to the Gaza Strip. Aso was scheduled to meet the Israeli leadership in Jerusalem before heading to the West Bank on Wednesday (August 15) to meet Palestinian leaders.

ITN Source | August 15, 2007

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