By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas agreed on Monday to set up negotiating teams to work on key issues of disagreement ahead of a US-sponsored Mideast conference this fall, an Israeli official said.
The official, Jacob Galanti, said the teams would discuss such areas as economics, energy and water. However, he made no mention of the central areas of disagreement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the borders of a future Palestinian state and the fate of Palestinian refugees or the disputed city of Jerusalem.
At a meeting with Abbas Monday, Olmert also said he would recommend that the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners for the upcoming Ramadan holiday.