TEL AVIV, Israel, July 3 (UPI) -- Security officials for Israel and the Palestinian Authority have renewed talks after a more than one-year hiatus, Israeli officials said Tuesday.
Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said the discussions at an undisclosed location Monday were a bid to bolster Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Ynetnews reported.
Israel had stopped coordinating security efforts with the PA after the rise to power of the radical Hamas group, which refuses to recognize the Jewish state. However, Hamas and Abbas' Fatah group alliance has fallen apart, providing an opportunity for Israel to resume talks with the Abbas administration.
Israel's Channel 2 television network said Olmert would meet with Abbas next week and Eisin said they had agreed to meet once every two weeks but with no final plans yet for another session. However, Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, denied another meeting had been set.
