PM: Abbas welcome to consider separating Gaza from West Bank

As far as Israel is concerned, there will be no separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority will need to fight terror there as part of negotiations, Army Radio quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying Monday. However, if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wished to relinquish the Gaza Strip as a part of a future Palestinian state, that would be a new situation and would have to be discussed, Olmert said.