News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) "We are determined to continue the talks until a final agreement is reached," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday, regarding negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. He reiterated that there would be no talks with Hamas terrorists, however. "We are not talking to Hamas and we will not talk to Hamas." Olmert was speaking with foreign correspondents in Jerusalem.

"Hamas is not such an insurmountable obstacle," Olmert said. "It can be overcome. How and when it will happen we shall see, but we do not talk to Hamas, we will not talk to those who fire missiles at the Israeli population and the way we will talk to them will be very painful," he added.

Olmert said he had made it clear to US President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that "no new communities will be built in Judea and Samaria, no Arab lands will be confiscated for building in the communities and our policy inside Jerusalem and the settlement blocs will continue unchanged."