Israel: Peace Is Closer Than Ever

Palestinian Leader Abbas Describes Talks With Prime Minister Olmert As "Serious"

(AP)  Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Israel and the Palestinians have never been as close to a peace deal than now.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, standing with Olmert at the French presidential palace, said both sides are "serious and want to achieve peace."

Both men held talks Sunday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of a sweeping summit launching the Union for the Mediterranean, bringing together leaders of some 40 nations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"We have never been as close to a possible (peace) agreement as today," Olmert told reporters.

Repeated rounds of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks since a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last year have produced little movement.

Olmert's domestic troubles, meanwhile, have clouded peace efforts. Law enforcement officials announced the widening of the corruption investigation against Olmert. The ongoing investigations threaten his political survival and will make it more difficult at least in the short term to make major steps toward peace.

But the atmosphere was friendly when Olmert and Abbas posed on the steps of the Elysee Palace with Sarkozy in the center, arms linked.

Palestinian negotiator Saeed Erekat said Sunday that Olmert's troubles were not affecting current discussions. He said Israeli and Palestinian officials would review the status of negotiations on the sidelines of the Paris summit, discussing Israel settlement activity, the Gaza border and Palestinian prisoner releases.

Later, the Associate Press reported an Israeli official said Olmert agreed to another Palestinian prisoner release.

Foreign ministers and others arriving at the grandiose Grand Palais for a meeting ahead of the summit expressed hopes that the conditions at the Paris meeting would be favorable for peace efforts.

"No doubt meetings of this nature in which people from all avenues of the Mediterranean get together, it will be also important to create the atmosphere and give it the sense of momentum, for the peace process also," Javier Solana, European Union foreign policy chief, told reporters.

(Left: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, puts his hands between the hands of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, July 13, 2008.)

Swedish Minister Carl Bildt said that there has already been "positive developments" on the Lebanon-Syria front.

On Saturday, Sarkozy played super-envoy, securing a preliminary agreement between the Syrian and Lebanese presidents that they would open embassies in each others' countries for the first time.

"There is a less good development so far on the Israel-Palestinian track. That needs to be accelerated," said Bildt.

Later Sunday, presidents or prime ministers of 43 countries were to hold the summit, presided by Sarkozy and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The Union for the Mediterranean is Sarkozy's brainchild, originally devised as a pillar of his presidency and of France's leadership of the European Union.

France holds the rotating E.U. post until the end of this year.

But Sarkozy's ambitious plan overlapped with European Union projects already in progress, and it was melded into EU efforts and expanded to include 27 members of the European Union, not just those on the Mediterranean coast.

Sunday's meeting was seen as more significant for the bodies gathered - the Israeli and Syrian leaders, for example, have never before sat at the same table - than for any immediate progress it is expected to achieve.

The modest measures on the table include a region-wide solar energy project, a cross-Mediterranean student exchange program, and a plan to clean up the polluted sea.


Nations Agree To Work Toward WMD-Free Zone In Middle East

At the summit today, 43 nations, including Israel and Arab states, agreed to work for a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

A final declaration from a summit launching the Union for the Mediterranean says the members will "pursue a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction."

That includes nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as their delivery systems, the statement says. The countries will "consider practical steps to prevent the proliferation" of such weapons, it says.

Israel is widely believed to have a stockpile of nuclear weapons. But Israel's official policy is called "nuclear ambiguity," neither confirming nor denying it has nuclear bombs.

The question of nuclear weapons in the region is particularly sensitive lately, given rising tensions between Israel and Iran, which the United States and its allies believe is seeking nuclear arms.

Tehran maintains its uranium enrichment activities are aimed at producing nuclear energy, and has defied U.N. Security Council demands that it suspend enrichment.

[babooph]

Didn''t Hitler say that when he was given Czechoslavakia?

[whiskyrocker]

Peace my a$$

[shellyanne34]

There will never be peace with Gaza as a nation. Syria and Iran will see too that.
Join us Jewish brothers and Sisters. Join us to help stop the muslims from attacking the holy land.
www.theseriouspolice.com

[factsearcher]

so..how about those Mets !


Posted by earth56

So what do you think?
Another stunt?

[nunyabidnes2]

Everyone here!!!!!

YOUR OPINIONS mean absolutley nothing! Let the process happen and see where it ends up before you SQUAK your BEAKS!!!!

[six-six-seis]

Posted by djberson ,
i dont even own a Koran An.us ***.

[djberson]

six-six-seis

You twist my words any way you want. At the end of the day, you will still be an Islamic pig traitor just like fedupwithit. Keep Israel bashing to show your support for wrong versus right. We are on to YOU my pitiful little friend. By the way, nice try, I vote Democrat baby.

[factsearcher]

Live and let live. Believe in whatever pleases your soul but let live in peace.
NOW, my question is... and please informed and intelligent people out there.. answer this...
How is it that there could be a possible peace agreement if Hamas, who has rooted in Gaza Strip, is not involved in this process and does not want peace with Israel...or anybody that doesnt follow them.

Posted by factsearcher

As somebody had told me before on this postings...
Dont keep your hopes up trying to find informed and intelligence together in one person- on this postings-
we''re very few and always been attacked.
Nothing today either.... will try again sometime

[six-six-seis]

fedupwithit1, without our support for Israel, we will be losing our greatest resource for technology and medicine.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by djberson ...

so are you saying we are paying Billions for Medicine
because theres a monopoly on Medicine,
Never thought of it, now we know..

[factsearcher]

Well, well, well... what do we have here..
We have many whiners.... the same ones that are part of the daily CBS postings constantly critizicing US, Israel and anybody who defends justice and fairness...without taking political sides.
Now, we have some positive progress in the right direction.... one little step towards a two-state-peace.
Don''t you all want peace????
Surely doesnt sound like it. It is possible. Jordan and Egypt are in a peaceful relantioship with Israel..why not?
Live and let live. Believe in whatever pleases your soul but let live in peace.
NOW, my question is... and please informed and intelligent people out there.. answer this...
How is it that there could be a possible peace agreement if Hamas, who has rooted in Gaza Strip, is not involved in this process and does not want peace with Israel...or anybody that doesnt follow them.