Abbas, Olmert meet in Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held their first formal meeting on Saturday in an attempt to revive peace talks. "This is the beginning of a series of meetings. It was a good meeting. There was agreement on several issues," Nabil Abu Rdainah, an aide to Abbas, told Reuters after the two-hour talks in Jerusalem.

Officials described the meeting as a private one, and therefore the two leaders did not hold a press conference at the end of the talks.

Abbas was accompanied by former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei and one of his close aides Saeb Erekat.