PETRA, Jordan (AP) - Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas shook hands and embraced on Thursday in the first meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a year
Olmert used the icebreaker to apologise for 13 Palestinian civilian deaths in recent Israeli air strikes.

"It is against our policy, and I am very, very sorry," he said after a breakfast meeting with Abbas in the ancient Jordanian town of Petra, sponsored by Jordan's King Abdullah II, but he said later Israel would continue striking at militants.

In this picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert (left) shakes hands with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen (centre), and Jordan's King Abdullah, after a breakfast hosted by the King during a conference of Nobel Prize laureates in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, Thursday. Their meeting is the first between Olmert and Abbas since Olmert took office in January, but officials said there would be no formal talks between them at the Jordan conference. (Photo: AP)

Palestinians also blame Israel for the deaths of eight other civilians at a June 9 Gaza beach explosion, though Israel denies responsibility.

Olmert had only warm words for Abbas and indicated he would meet with him again, but cautioned against high hopes. Peace talks are unlikely, he suggested, unless the Palestinians' anti-Israel government changes its policy.
"I think that Abu Mazen is a genuine person and he comes here with good intentions," Olmert said after meeting Abbas, using the Palestinian leader's nickname.

"But to the best of my knowledge, he is not the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority."
The prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, belongs to militant Islamic Hamas, which rejects Israel's right to exist and has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel and refuses to renounce violence.

Abbas, a moderate elected separately last year, is in an intense power struggle with Hamas, and is trying to persuade Israel to bypass the militant group and negotiate directly with him.

Speaking in Jerusalem Thursday evening after returning from Jordan, Olmert repeated his apology for the civilian deaths, but added: "Israel will continue to carry out targeted attacks against terrorists and those who try to harm Israeli citizens."

Abbas has been seeking to persuade Hamas to accept a proposal that implicitly recognises Israel as a way to restart peace talks and end a crippling world aid boycott.

If Hamas continues to reject the proposal, Abbas plans to bring the plan to Palestinian voters in a July 26 referendum.
Abbas said Thursday that he hoped his dialogue with Hamas would "reach a positive outcome ... so the world can interact with us and end its siege."

His breakfast meeting with Olmert took place on the sidelines of a two-day gathering of Nobel Prize winners. Olmert, Abbas and Abdullah sat at a round breakfast table with the Dalai Lama, a deputy Thai prime minister and Elie Weisel, a Holocaust survivor and the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

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