Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has arrived at the residence of Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the first meeting between the two leaders in seven weeks.
A top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erakat, earlier said Mr Abbas and Mr Olmert would discuss a mutual ceasefire, lifting the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and implementing the 2003 Middle East roadmap to peace agreement.
The two leaders last met on 19 February, but Mr Abbas suspended the fortnightly talks at the beginning of March after an Israeli military operation in Gaza killed more than 130 people.
The slow-moving peace efforts were given new impetus when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a visit to the region last week, secured an Israeli commitment to ease some restrictions on West Bank Palestinians.
'We are negotiating seriously and we are striving to arrive at a solution for all the final-status issues, but it will not come at any price,' Mr Abbas said yesterday.
The international roadmap peace blueprint calls on Israel to freeze Jewish settlement construction and for Palestinians to improve security in their territories.
But the latest peace talks have made little progress since they were launched at a US-sponsored conference in November, with each side accusing the other of neglecting its obligations.
