Special report: Internal situation in Palestine

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (R) shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. A long-awaited summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas ended Saturday night at Olmert's residence in Jerusalem, Dec. 23, 2006.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    JERUSALEM, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed on Saturday during a meeting with Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to take a series of concrete steps to improve the Israeli-Palestinian situation in efforts to bring peace to the region.

    In an effort to ease the humanitarian plight of the Palestinian people, Israel will transfer the frozen tax revenues to the Palestinian hospitals and other medical facilities, as well as immediately remove several roadblocks in the West Bank, Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin told Xinhua after the meeting.

    Olmert and Abbas also discussed possible ways of reinforcing the cease-fire between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip and how to extend it to the West Bank.

    "The Palestinian and Israel peoples have suffered enough," Olmert was quoted as telling Abbas at their meeting. "It is time to proceed in the peace process."

    Olmert expressed his concern with the continued Qassam shootings and said: "Israel cannot show restraint for Qassams for long if the violations continue."

    No agreement was reached on the release of Palestinian prisoners and the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. But the two sides agreed to reactivate a joint committee charged with freeing Palestinian prisoners.

    "There will be no release of prisoners until the return of Gilad Shalit," Eisin said. "After that, Israel is willing to release a large number of them," she said, adding that the committee will decide the list of those to be freed.

    Olmert and Abbas agreed to meet again in the near future but no specific date has been fixed, the spokeswoman said.

    Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed at a press conference Saturday evening in Ramallah that Israel has agreed to transfer the funds for humanitarian purposes.

    Erekat said the two sides also agreed that 35 million shekels (about 8.3 million U.S. dollars) would be transferred to hospitals in East Jerusalem.

    According to the agreement, 400 truckloads of goods will be allowed entry into the Gaza Strip on a daily basis.

    Erekat said Olmert and Abbas also agreed to renew commitments to agreements between the two sides, as well as to take actions to achieve a political two-state solution based on the Road Map.

    The meeting, which was announced just hours before it began, marked the first substantial talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in 22 months.

    Abbas and Olmert met informally on the sidelines of a conference in Jordan earlier this year, but the PNA chairman's last formal meeting with an Israeli prime minister was in February 2005, when Ariel Sharon was Israel's prime minister.