Olmert raps Abbas over Shalit

Ehud Olmert accused Mahmoud Abbas of not
honoring recent commitments. The Israeli prime minister said
Sunday that the Palestinian Authority president had promised that an Israeli soldier held hostage in
the Gaza Strip would be freed before the Palestinian Authority coalition
government was formed, a promise that Abbas did not keep. “One cannot ignore the fact that
the Palestinian Authority chairman has flagrantly violated a series of
undertakings made to Israel, especially the undertaking that a
Palestinian unity government would not be set up before the release of
Gilad Shalit,” Olmert told the Cabinet on Sunday. “Obviously, all these things will
not, in the near future, facilitate contacts between us and the Palestinian
Authority.” Olmert’s comments came ahead of a flurry of
foreign trouble-shooting in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice were in the region Sunday, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel
expected to follow later in the week. “This week will abound with
diplomatic activity,” Olmert said.