By KUNA,
Ramallah : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are due to meet on Monday at Olmert’s Jerusalem residence.
Both leaders are tending to discuss the negotiation process between both sides and Egyptian mediation efforts to reach a peace truce as well as lifting the imposed siege on Gaza Strip.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said he will underline the importance of settlement expansion stoppage.
Erakat said in press release that the Israeli government’s decision to construct new housing units in Jerusalem “slammed” the international efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace truce before the end of this year.
He pointed out that Abbas will demand halting the settlement expansion process and scrapping all Israeli settlement decisions that would undermine the peace process.
The meeting will involve Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Ahmad Qurei’.
It will be held hours ahead of Olmert’s scheduled departure to Washington where he will meet with the US President George W. Bush and other senior US officials.
Olmert will deliver a speech before the pro-Israel annual Jewish lobby conference in the US before going back to Israel next Friday.