Special report: Hamas-led cabinet takes office

Special report:Israel's General Election

    JERUSALEM, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is likely to meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas toward reaching a bilateral agreement, veteran politician Shimon Peres said on Tuesday.

    Peres, who was appointed by Olmert vice prime minister and minister for Negev and Galilee Affairs in the incoming new government, told local newspaper The Jerusalem Post that the new Israeli government had not ruled out the possibility of reaching a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians.

    "I think that Olmert will meet with Abbas after the establishment of the government, maybe after his (Olmert) visit to the United States. We will try for a while to reach a bilateral agreement," Peres said.

    Olmert is expected to visit the U.S. after setting up the government and return to Israel later this month.

    Any agreement would have to be made with Abbas, rather than the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Peres stressed.

    "The Palestinians are divided...Their division is a fact of life. I do not see why we have to push all of them to Hamas and itis the case if we can work with Abu Mazen (Abbas)," he added.

    Olmert has announced plans to carry out unilateral moves in order to set the borders with the Palestinians by 2010.

    The acting prime minister, who is to head the new Israeli cabinet, also once declared not to meet with Abbas who he said was stripped of power by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

    Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruct, defeated Abbas' Fatah movement in the January elections and formed a new Palestinian government in late March.

    Abbas has also expressed readiness to hold talks with the new Israeli government.

    The Palestinian president said during his visit to Europe last week that he would soon approach Israeli leaders about resuming peace talks in an international peace summit.

    The Post quoted sources in Abbas' office as saying that no date had been set for a meeting with Olmert.

    However, the sources added that Abbas was ready to meet with Olmert as soon as possible to discuss ways of reviving the peace process on the basis of the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan which advocates a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

    Peres also predicted that the Hamas-led Palestinian government would soon crumble, saying it had been already unable to pay salaries to government employees.

    Meanwhile, he voiced optimism that the international community would endorse Israel's setting of borders through unilateral moves.

    Olmert, who is expected to present his cabinet to the Knesset (Parliament) on Thursday, has vowed to draw the final borders with the Palestinians by withdrawing from isolated settlements in the West Bank but keeping larger blocs in the absence of peace talks with the Palestinians.

    After Hamas January election victory, Israel halted the transfer of about 50 million U.S. dollars of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians to the Hamas government.The Jewish state has also vowed no contact with the new Palestinian government. Enditem