Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced he will hold talks next week with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The meeting would be the first since Arab leaders renewed their five-year-old offer of full peace with Israel in return for its withdrawal from the Occupied Territories. Abbas urged Israel to accept the deal.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: “If Israel withdraws from the occupied Palestinian Arab land, it will live in a sea of peace, stability and normalization. That means from Mauritania to Indonesia, all the countries then have to lift the Israeli flag, if that happens.”