Reuters
JERUSALEM - Israeli President Shimon Peres hosts Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for talks in his official residence on Tuesday, saying the unprecedented visit should help dispel doubts about Israel's desire for peace.
Although the two men have met before, no Palestinian president has ever been inside Beit Hanasi, or President's House, in Jerusalem, where Israel's head of state routinely welcomes foreign dignitaries.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that during the meeting, Abbas "will seek Peres's help in halting settlement expansion that is undermining peace talks."
Peres said the talks were aimed at reassuring Abbas that Israel remained committed to U.S.-brokered peace talks despite a political crisis revolving around corruption allegations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that could lead to an early election.
"Although ... things on our side are not the most stable, I want to make clear that the desire to achieve peace remains stable," Peres, a former prime minister and Nobel peace prize laureate, told Israel Radio.
"Abu Mazen (Abbas) is the elected leader and he has stood up courageously against Hamas," Peres said, referring to the Islamist movement that seized the Gaza Strip from Abbas's Fatah faction in June 2007.
"He deserves to be invited in an honorable way to the president's residence in Jerusalem," Peres said, adding the red carpet would be rolled out for Abbas for the meeting set to begin at 0915 GMT.
Peres's duties are largely ceremonial, but the elder statesman has been outspoken in his support of the peace process with the Palestinians and of the need to bolster their economy through international aid and cooperation.
Olmert, who meets Abbas regularly and last saw him in Paris two weeks ago, said after their talks in the French capital that Israel and the Palestinians have never been so close to a peace deal.
The United States, which launched the current peace drive at an international conference in Annapolis, Maryland last November, hopes the talks can lead to a Palestinian statehood deal before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.
Olmert has been talking up peace prospects as he clings to office in the face of a police investigation into suspicions he illegally received money from a U.S. businessman who raises funds for various Israeli organizations.
Olmert and the businessman, Morris Talansky, have denied any wrongdoing. The prime minister has said he would resign if indicted.