Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit met on Thursday in Amman with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the latest developments in the Palestinian issue.

The two sides reviewed the ongoing preparations for the international Mideast peace meeting, which US President George W. Bush has called for. In a speech about peace prospects for the Middle East last month, Bush called for an international meeting in the fall in an attempt to reinvigorate the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

Abbas briefed the premier on the efforts exerted by different parties to relaunch peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and on the outcome of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday and talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Alexandria Wednesday. In statements to the press following the meeting, Bakhit said the consultative meeting with the president was fruitful.

“I was briefed by the Palestinian president on the latest developments, especially with regard to his recent meeting with the Israeli prime minister,” Bakhit said.

Bakhit said talks focused on the peace conference, tentatively scheduled for September, and the need to make the necessary preparation, including continued Jordanian-Palestinian consultations. The premier underlined the importance of pushing the peace process forward and the need to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people through the removal of blockades and the release of as many as possible of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

Abbas pointed out that Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) see eye-to-eye on the need for the US-sponsored meeting to set specific goals to be achieved in line with a fixed timetable. Also, “the parties who will attend the conference should be determined in advance”, Abbas told reporters, stressing that all concerned parties should attend the meeting.

Abbas reiterated that there were no mediations between the PA and Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip from Fateh movement in June, prompting the president to fire premier Ismail Haniyeh and set up a caretaker government.

“There are no mediations and there are no talks or any persons entrusted with any dialogue.”

Abbas has described the takeover as “disastrous.”

Reiterating the Palestinian Authority’s position, he emphasised that there would be no talks with Hamas unless they undo what they committed in Gaza. “We maintain our position which says [that] if Hamas retracts from what it committed in Gaza, then we will see how we handle the situation,” Abbas said.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has offered to mediate between Hamas and Fateh, according to a report Thursday by the official Yemeni news agency SABA, following a visit to Yemen by Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal. Saleh briefed Abbas by phone about his mediation initiative, the report said. There was no word on the Palestinian president’s response to the Yemeni leader.

Responding to a question on a new list of Palestinian prisoners to be freed soon, Abbas said: “We asked the Israeli government to release several Palestinian prisoners, especially those from the Gaza Strip.”

“We hope the request will be approved.” Asked about the possible return of Palestinians from Iraq to the Palestinian territories, he said that question has not been raised with the Israeli government. Israel wants to deal with refugee issue up-front

Israel wants the divisive question of Palestinian refugees addressed early in talks with President Mahmoud Abbas and suggested movement on the issue could lead to a pledge to hand over more Israeli-held land.

In meetings over the last week with visiting US and European officials, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and other Israeli leaders stressed the importance of addressing the refugee issue up-front, participants said on Thursday, quoted by Reuters.

No issue, with the possible exception of Jerusalem, is as emotional and troubling for Palestinians and Israelis as the fate of Palestinian refugees at the core of the conflict.

“This is a killer for Abbas,” one diplomat said of the refugee issue, adding that addressing it first could jeopardise talks over a US-sponsored conference expected in November.

Israel wants any agreement of principles to reflect its position, backed by US President George W. Bush, that refugees settle in a future state of Palestine, rather than in Israel.

Many Israelis fear that any mass return would threaten the Jewish character of the state carved out in 1948.

Without an early agreement in principle on refugees, foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said, “it will always remain a concern that the establishment of a Palestinian state has not ended the conflict and that there are more demands on Israel”.

Diplomats said Israel wants talks on refugees to precede the other final status issues of borders and Jerusalem.

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said it was premature to discuss such matters. “It’s up to the leaders to decide,” he said.

In return for movement on refugees, Western diplomats said Israel was likely to agree to principles that include a call for a Palestinian state in nearly all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel would seek to hold onto some of the largest Jewish settlement blocs through land swaps.

Regev declined to comment specifically on what the Palestinians could receive in return for movement on refugees.

But he said: “Movement on this issue would give great impetus to dealing with other issues.”