Israel/Gaza

         Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abba will meet on Monday to discuss renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip, chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Saturday. During the meeting, Abbas will also bring up continued Israeli settlement expansion, Erekat added. The two leaders have met regularly for the past year as part of US-backed peace talks. However, all sides have acknowledged that they will miss the end-of-year target for a peace deal. Erekat said the two leaders will continue meeting to talk about bilateral concerns. On Friday, Olmert said that the government will continue to put pressure on Hamas until ongoing rocket barrages on southern Israel are halted. He called the attacks a "fundamental violation" of a five-month cease-fire with Hamas, and said Israel would continue to step up pressure on Hamas by keeping border crossings closed and through other unspecified means. Olmert held an emergency meeting with senior officials from the defense echelon including Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. -Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi in Tel Aviv. The emergency meeting came in response to a barrage of 16 rockets and a mortar shell that was fired by Palestinians on Friday alone. Five of the rockets launched were Grad-type Katyushas. "The rules regarding Gaza are clear: If there is quiet and the time is not used [by terrorists] to prepare the next attack, Israel will keep the situation calm. But if Israeli citizens are attacked, we will use force to defend them," Foreign Minister and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni said Saturday evening. Livni was speaking at an event saluting female activists hosted by the Union of Jewish Communities in Tel Aviv. She was making her statements after a week that saw the most serious and continuous breaches of the ceasefire agreed upon by Israel and Hams five months ago. "Israel does not want escalation, but we cannot sit idly by while the ceasefire is breached again and again. The other side should know there comes a time when Israel says 'enough is enough'," Livni said. (11,57)