Special reports: Crisis between Israel and Palestine
¡¡                   ¡¡Hamas-led cabinet takes office

    SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas held a 40-minute closed-door meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum (WEF) conference, which opened Saturday in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni meet during the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Middle East held in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. (Xinhua Photo)

    Livni, emerging from the meeting room along with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, said that Israeli officials might negotiate with Palestinian officials on the financial issue to ease the Palestinians' plight.

    On the current Palestinians-Israeli tensions, Livni said, "We want to reach peace."

    For his part, Peres said that the Israeli side would deal with the Palestinians on economic issues while continuing political isolation with the radical Hamas movement, which is bent on Israel's destruction.

    Abbas, who came out of the meeting room after Livni and Peres left, said that he urged the Israeli government to return to the negotiating table and revive the peace process based on the roadmap peace plan backed by the international quartet ¨C the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

    The Palestinians refuse any unilateral action and one-side policy, which could reach nothing, Abbas said, adding that peace should involve the two parties.

    Abbas said that he also urged Livni and Peres to return tax revenues owed to the Palestinian government.

    The Abbas-Livni meeting has been the first high-level encounter between Israeli and Palestinian officials since Hamas won the Jan. 25 parliamentary election.

    After a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Dadawi Saturday night, Abbas said that the Palestinians were facing a dire economic situation due to the fact that the Palestinian National Authority has not received any more donation or aid in the past several months.

    He urged the EU to offer aid to the Palestinians as soon as possible according to a mandate issued by the quartet earlier this month that a temporary mechanism would be set up to aid the Palestinians.

    Abbas said that the Palestinians were firmly committed to peace. "We have no other way but the way of peace," he said through an interpreter. "Our hands remain extended for peace."

    Abbas said that his Fatah movement would open a dialogue with Hamas in the next few days.

    Hamas and Fatah have been in conflict in the past month amid a power struggle.

    As for an Arab fund of about 90 million U.S. dollars kept by the Arab League, Abbas said that the money has not been channeled to the Palestinian government since no bank is willing to conduct the business out of fears of U.S. sanctions. Enditem