By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that real negotiations will be held after a high profile international conference on Middle East peace due in Annapolis, the United State, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Olmert made the remarks at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting, just before the cabinet was set to approve the release of some 450 Palestinian prisoners and several hours before a meeting between Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to the report.
Olmert was quoted as saying that “the importance of the international gathering organized by the U.S. president is great, but we must not read too much into it.”
The Mideast peace meeting scheduled for the last week of November will naturally be accompanied by disagreements and arguments, he said, adding that real negotiations will be held only after the Annapolis meeting in order to bring an end to the conflict and to two states for two peoples.
Israeli ministers were to discuss the Annapolis summit during the cabinet meeting, the last cabinet gathering before the U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference.