Israeli, Palestinian officials meet in Ramallah

RAMALLAH - A senior Palestinian official and a pro-peace member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) met on Saturday in the West Bank city of Ramallah to precipitate Mideast peace talks.

Mohamed al-Madani, chairman of the Palestinian Committee to communicate with the Israeli society, and Freij Essawi, an Israeli lawmaker in the left-wing pro-peace Meretz Party, held talks in Ramallah on Saturday evening.

"These meetings are aimed at keeping in touch with the Israeli society to convince the Israelis and keep the peaceful dialogue with them to reinforce the idea of peace and coexistence," al-Madani told Xinhua.

He said that on Wednesday a group of Jewish rabbis and 300 Israeli students will meet in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"The efforts of keeping in touch with the Israelis focus on convincing them to accept the principle of the two-state solution in accordance with the international resolutions and the Arab peace initiative," said al-Madani.

Earlier on Saturday, Yasser Abed Rabbo, an official from Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Xinhua that the Israeli insistence on recognizing the state of Israel as a Jewish state "is a major obstacle for achieving peace."

"We would never accept to recognize Israel to be the so-called national home of the Jewish people because this legalizes the ancient Zionist story of expelling the Palestinians from their homes in 1948," said Abed Rabbo.