PM: Efforts to meet with Abbas fail over prisoner swap terms

[Lithos]

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday told ministers during the cabinet's weekly meeting in Jerusalem that efforts to schedule a meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have broken down.

Aides in the prime minister's office quoted Olmert as saying Abbas is demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners as a condition for holding the meeting. Olmert said there would be no prisoner release until Hamas-linked militants in the Gaza Strip release Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in June.

"We offered to meet with Abu Mazen, but apparently he is not interested," Olmert was quoted as saying during a meeting. "He is conditioning a meeting on the release of prisoners and we will not release any prisoners until Gilad Shalit is released."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=775002&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

Also appears that the Syrians were the ones who caused the last round of negotiations to fall through.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=774913&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

[bemildred]

1. We seem to have sort of a stalemate. nt