Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet at the end of the month with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Israeli leader said in comments published Wednesday.
Olmert will meet first with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, then Jordanian King Abdullah and, after a visit to Europe, will meet with Abbas, he told the Yediot Ahronot daily.
"I intend to meet him toward the end of June," Olmert said of Abbas.
Olmert said he will check in the meeting if it is possible to hold negotiations with the Palestinian Authority based on the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. If such talks are not possible, Olmert has said that he will implement his plan to withdraw from parts of the West Bank without Palestinian coordination.
Israel believes that the election of the anti-Israeli Hamas group in the Palestinian areas will make it difficult to hold any such negotiations. Olmert hopes to transfer West Bank land to the Palestinians and set down Israel's final borders by 2008.
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