Gulf Times:

 RAMALLAH: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said yesterday the US must “prepare well” to ensure that a Middle East peace conference expected in November leads to a deal on Palestinian statehood.
Fayyad said a successful conference should produce a “clear agreement” on a sovereign Palestinian state based on Israel’s withdrawal from land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, and a “binding timeframe” for its implementation.
“We don’t see the benefit of convening the conference without securing conditions for its success for all parties, foremost being the Palestinians,” Fayyad said in a speech at an economic conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
He said a deal must include “international guarantees” on final-status issues such as borders, the fate of Jerusalem and the issue of refugees displaced when Israel was created in 1948.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been pushing in talks with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert for an explicit “framework agreement” before the conference with a timeline for implementation on these core issues.
Olmert is seeking a more broadbrush ‘declaration of principles’ and said on Monday he was not sure the two leaders would be able to reach a deal on statehood principles ahead of the conference, which is expected to take place in the Washington, DC, area in mid-to-late November.
 Abbas and Olmert are to meet next week for new talks, both sides said yesterday.
The meeting will “probably take place on Monday in Jerusalem,” a Palestinian official said.
An Israeli official said the meeting would take place either tomorrow or on Tuesday. –  Agencies