Abbas has repeatedly condemned Israel's plans to build hundreds of new homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem where Palestinians claimed for their future state, while Israel, suffering from the continuous rockets fired into its southern cities from Gaza, has warned that it will not carry out any peace agreement until Abbas regains control of Gaza from Islamic Hamas movement which took over the coastal strip last June.

Israel launched a ground military operation in Hamas-controlled Gaza in late February in response to especially heavy rocket fire, which killed more than 120 Palestinians. Abbas declared to suspend his regular biweekly meetings with Olmert.

Monday's meeting was the first between the men since Feb. 19. The three-hour meeting included discussions between negotiating teams from both sides and a one-on-one session between Olmert and Abbas.

According to Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev, both leaders reiterated their commitment to the Annapolis process and to reaching a comprehensive agreement by the end of 2008, and agreed that the negotiations will go on though both sides raised concerns at Monday's meeting.

As peace negotiations began two weeks ago and a series of peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are supposed to follow up, Gil said that Monday's meeting shows a restarting of good momentum for peace process which possibly leads to a peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians within this year.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2008)