Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday resumed peace talks and pledged to reach a peace agreement within the current year.
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (R) shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in Jerusalem April 7, 2008, in this picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO).
The two leaders met at Olmert's official residence in Jerusalem shortly after noon for their first tete-a-tete since Abbas suspended their bi-weekly meetings at the beginning of March in protest to a deadly Israeli ground military operation in the Gaza Strip.
The three-hour meeting included discussions between negotiating teams from both sides and a one-on-one session between Olmert and Abbas, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.
The two sides agreed to continue talks and pledged to reach a comprehensive agreement by the end of 2008, according to the Prime Minister's Office, a goal set at a U.S.-hosted peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland last November when long-stalled negotiations between the two sides were revived.
"Both leaders reiterated their commitment to the Annapolis process and to reaching a historic agreement by the end of the year," Regev said, adding that the two leaders also agreed to resume their bi-weekly meetings which halted on Feb. 19.
The two sides also expressed their concerns of the situation in southern Israel, an area bordering the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and often hit by rockets, according to Olmert's office.
