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Minister says Israel wants more serious debate with Abbas

Israel wants to reopen serious dialogue with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and work with him to establish a Palestinian state, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said yesterday.

Livni spoke after a meeting on Monday with Abbas in New York that both sides described as positive. It was the first working meeting between leading Israeli and Palestinian officials in four months.

"I don't see this as one meeting and each side checks off a box and goes home," Livni told Israel's Army Radio about her talks with Abbas. "The idea is to establish a permanent channel of dialogue. ... We have a goal ... of achieving a two-state solution."

The Livni-Abbas talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly came as Abbas was trying to get the Hamas government to moderate its anti-Israel policies.

"It was a very, very positive meeting with Mrs. Livni. We talked [about] everything," Abbas told reporters after the talks.

Abbas and Livni discussed reopening the dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian officials, including a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as soon as possible, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Abbas agreed to an unconditional meeting with Olmert that would be part of a series of meetings between Palestinian and Israeli officials, he said.
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