Abbas to meet Bush in Washington in April: officials

By Wafa Amr

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Washington in April for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush to try to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

His visit will precede a trip by Bush to the Middle East where he would meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas.

"Bush invited President Abbas to visit Washington on April 24 to discuss the peace talks with Israel and ways to advance those talks," a senior Abbas aide told Reuters.

U.S. officials said they were checking the report.

At Annapolis in November last year, Bush launched Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on sensitive final status issues such as Jerusalem, the fate of refugees, Jewish settlements and borders.

Bush made his first presidential visit to Israel and the West Bank in January and is expected to make another trip in May.

Abbas told reporters on Wednesday that talks between chief Palestinian negotiator Amed Qurie and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni tackled "all the core issues without exception: Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, borders, and security."

"We hope to achieve a settlement in 2008, there are many obstacles but we hope they will be removed. We are all pressing to reach a settlement by the target date," Abbas said.