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JERUSALEM-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas protested Jewish settlement growth near Jerusalem in talks on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who sought to show it was business-as-usual despite a corruption probe."Differences were deep and strong in this area," Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said of the settlement issue, which has dogged U.S.-sponsored peace talks since they were launched in November.Abbas's prime minister, Salam Fayyad, stepped up the pressure, calling on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in a letter to deny Israel membership over building on occupied land, a Palestinian official said.Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said Fayyad's lobbying efforts with the OECD were "simply unproductive" and that the prime minister raised the issue during his two-hour meeting with Abbas in Jerusalem. Olmert will fly later on Monday to Washington, where he will meet President George W. Bush.Olmert has so far rebuffed calls that he leave office over allegations he took envelopes stuffed with cash from a Jewish-American businessman. Olmert and the businessman have denied wrongdoing.Officials said Olmert's strategy was to push ahead with the negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as indirect talks with Syria, as if nothing has changed in hope the police investigation does not end in charges against him."This process will continue," Regev said of the talks with the Palestinians, adding that Olmert recommitted himself during the meeting to trying to reach a deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of the year."We're hopeful, still, that it will be possible to reach such an agreement," Regev said. "I can say unequivocally that there was progress reached in this meeting today."To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
