Olmert, Abbas discuss top three core issues

JERUSALEM – The Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Tuesday tackled the core issues that have tormented Mideast peacemakers for decades: Palestinian refugees, final borders and the fate of Jerusalem.

It was the first time Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the issues in depth and represented an important building block for a U.S.-sponsored international peace conference planned for November.

Olmert met several times with Abbas in the past few months, but had been reluctant to take on the most contentious issues, preferring to focus on general outlines. That approach riled Palestinians, who want to take on the core questions of Palestinian statehood.

Heading into the meeting at Olmert’s Jerusalem residence, Abbas warned that the fall peace conference would be a “waste of time” if the three big issues were glossed over. After the talks, both sides confirmed that Israel had swept aside its reluctance to address them.

The biggest obstacles to a peace accord have been what the final borders of a Palestinian state would be; whether Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war that accompanied Israel’s creation would be allowed to return to their original homes in Israel along with their descendants; and whether the holy city of Jerusalem could be shared.