Written by Chris Perver Friday, 02 November 2007

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has reiterated his opinion that Israel should seek to establish a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority before the end of George Bush's last term as President of the United States. That gives Israel and the Palestinians one year to formulate an agreement on final status issues, such as the borders of a Palestinian state and the status of Jerusalem. Olmert has stated that he believes an agreement under President Bush's term would be the most favourable for Israel, for it was impossible to know if the next US administration would be as committed to solving the Israel-Arab conflict. Olmert has given two reasons for wanting to sign a peace agreement with the Palestinians before Bush leaves office. One is President Bush's letter to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in which he promised that Israel could retain Jewish-majority settlement blocks in East Jerusalem. The second reason is President Bush's "Roadmap to Peace" document, which demands that both parties implement various confidence-building steps before agreeing to final status issues.

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Reuters

The center of Noel was about 810 miles west-southwest of Bermuda by
midnight British time and its maximum sustained winds had reached near
75 miles per hour (120 kph) - MIAMI - Tropical Storm Noel, whose rains
have killed at least 108 people in the Caribbean, strengthened into a
hurricane in the Atlantic on Thursday as it moved away from the Bahamas
toward Bermuda, U.S. forecasters said.

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