RAMALLAH, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday described an earlier summit meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jericho as "positive."

    Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah on Monday evening, Erekat said the two sides agreed to activate a special ministerial committee to free Palestinian prisoners.

A photo made available by the Palestinian Press Office shows Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jericho.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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    During the three-hour meeting earlier in the day, "Abbas thanked Olmert for releasing 250 prisoners from Israeli jails," Erekat said.

    "President Abbas expressed to Prime Minister Olmert hope that more Palestinian prisoners would be freed in the future," he added.

    The Palestinian official revealed that Abbas and Olmert also discussed the return of the Palestinians who were deported from Bethlehem to the Gaza Strip in 2002 during the Israeli large-scale military operation known as the Defensive Shield.

    "Prime Minister Olmert promised to study the issue and to deal with it similar to dealing with the issue of wanted Palestinians which will be studied next week by the Israeli Defense Ministry," said Erekat.

    He also said that Abbas asked Olmert to allow humanitarian aids into the Gaza Strip, and allow farmers to export their produces.

    The meeting between Abbas and Olmert started at 1 p.m. local time (10:00 GMT) in the city of Jericho. It is the first time that an Israeli premier holds a meeting with a Palestinian leader in the Palestinian controlled territory.

    Asked about the conference that President George W. Bush proposed to be held in November, Erekat said: "We don't need any new initiatives; the conference should adopt the former peace initiatives and implement them."

    Erekat said that the Jericho meeting is one of the three meetings that would be held between the two leaders before holding the conference in November.

    Meanwhile, Israeli Radio quoted Olmert as saying that he wanted to see the creation of a Palestinian state which would be established alongside Israel "as soon as possible."

    "Our intention is to bring about two states for two peoples, and we want to do this as soon as possible," Olmert said.

    Olmert made the remarks as he met Abbas to discuss what an Israeli spokesman said the "fundamental issues," which would be the basis for an independent Palestinian statehood, according to the radio.

Haneya slams Abbas-Olmert summit
    GAZA, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Ismail Haneya, Hamas leader in Gaza, has slammed Monday summit meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that took place in West Bank city of Jericho.

    "These meetings are such a reproduction of a long track that brought nothing for the Palestinian people," Haneya told members of his cabinet which Abbas has sacked following the Islamic movement's takeover of Gaza Strip.  

Abbas, Olmert to discuss political issues in Jericho summit

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meet on Monday to talk on resuming political negotiations.(Xinhua Photo)
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    RAMALLAH, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet on Monday to talk on resuming political negotiations, a top Palestinian official said on Sunday.

    The only point on the summit agenda was "the political negotiations," while the security, financial and foreign relations left to be handled by joint ministerial committees, Abbas' confident and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters in Ramallah.