Bush, Olmert Meet on Palestine

Israel considers picking up peace process as US resumes aid
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 19, 2007 8:05 AM CDT
Bush, Olmert Meet on Palestine
In this photo released by the Israeli Government Press Office, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, right, talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during their meeting in Washington Monday, June 18, 2007. The U.S. decision to end an economic and political embargo on the Palestinians increased...   (Associated Press)

President Bush and Israeli PM Ehud Olmert will convene today to discuss future relations with a newly divided Palestine. The US has resumed aid to Mahmoud Abbas' moderate Fatah government, now balkanized from its militant Hamas rivals, and Olmert has signaled his a potential willingness to push peace negotiations by doing the same.

What either country plans to do about the newly Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip is still anyone's guess. Meanwhile, some analysts say the recent spat of recovery cash will do little, considering Fatah's history of corruption and inefficiency. "It gives Fatah walking around money, but it doesn't solve the governance problem," says a Mideast expert. (More Israel stories.)

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