The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hopes to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office, an Israeli government official said on Friday. In separate remarks, Olmert's deputy said talks with the Palestinians on core statehood issues, including the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, would immediately follow a U.S.-led conference due late this month or early in December.

"There are big advantages to reaching an agreement before the end of Bush's term. This is the right thing to do. It is the best thing to do for both sides," the official quoted Olmert as telling German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The official said Olmert wanted to seize the opportunity because it was impossible to know how committed the next U.S. administration would be to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Olmert also wants to take advantage of a commitment by the Bush administration that Israel can keep control in any peace deal of large Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank, on land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, the official said.