Olmert and Abbas to meet unofficially in Petra this week

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will meet unofficially this Thursday, for the first time since the new Israeli government was installed.

Both leaders will attend a global gathering of Nobel Prize winners sponsored by Jordan's King Abdullah in Petra. According to the Prime Minister's Office, however, no official meeting with Abbas is planned.

Olmert is scheduled to leave Thursday morning for Petra, where he will have breakfast and return to Jerusalem immediately afterward.

Olmert is in no rush to meet with Abbas. During his visit last week to Europe, he promised to appoint a team to begin preparing for talks, but has not yet done so.


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