Senior Fatah officials in Palestine have dismissed an announcement by the rival Hamas movement that the two sides will soon hold reconciliation talks.

"Our administration in Gaza is temporary." We have said all the time that we are ready to discuss all the issues on the negotiating table Ahmed Yousef adviser to Ismail Haniya.

Middle East envoy Tony Blair has returned to the region for another round of shuttle diplomacy. The visit is part of a stepped-up effort by the international community to revive the peace process.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his parliament he won't be deterred from seeking a peace deal with the Palestinians despite the need for painful concessions, warning that failure would mean a "demographic struggle steeped in blood and tears."

The leader of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, has urged Arab nations not to attend an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference that will address a final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders are holding a summit meeting today in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are hammering out a document on Palestinian statehood. They hope to present it at an international peace conference in the United States, planned for November.

Israel and the Palestinians could sign a peace deal within six months of an international peace conference scheduled for November, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas says.

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is preparing an initiative to make peace with rival movement Fatah and its leader President Mahmoud Abbas, an Arab-language newspaper said Friday.

President Bush Monday, starting three days of diplomacy at the United Nations, met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and reaffirmed U.S. support for Palestinian statehood. Mr. Bush also met Middle East "Quartet" envoy Tony Blair in an effort to build momentum for a U.S.-organized Middle East peace conference in November.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States agrees with Israel that the Gaza Strip is a "hostile entity" now that it is controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders have held a summit meeting in a bid to push the peace process forward. But while there are signs of progress, deep divisions remain.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to set up joint negotiating teams to resolve key points of contention in the lead-up to a U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference in November.