Israel is prepared to discuss "in general terms" core issues, including borders, in meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after insisting for months that they not be included, officials said on Monday.
But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert still believes that talk of relaunching final status negotiations remained premature for now despite mounting US pressure, they said.
Western diplomats said pressure on Israel to do more to bolster Abbas would increase with the arrival in Jerusalem on Monday of Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, as envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators. Final status talks - over common borders and the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees - broke off six years ago.
Short of agreeing to restart those negotiations, a senior Israeli official involved in the discussions said Israel was preparing steps in the near-term to try to improve "movement and access" in the West Bank. This was expected to include the removal of some of the hundreds of Israeli roadblocks. The official said Israel would then look at transferring responsibility for some West Bank responsibilities, you get into borders," the official said.
Another senior Israeli official said Israel was willing to discuss with Abbas "co-ordinated withdrawals" from parts of the West Bank that could serve Abbas's interests.
Olmert and Abbas are expected to meet again as early as next week, possibly in the West Bank city of Jericho, officials said. Under US pressure, Olmert agreed earlier this year to discuss with Abbas a so-called "political horizon", which Israel defined as the legal, economic and governmental structures of a future Palestinian state.
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