Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday he would withhold any assessment of the peace process with Israel until the two sides start putting a draft accord on paper. “I can't speak of progress as long as we have not started to edit a draft. When we start drafting we will feel we have started to make progress,” he told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. So far, Abbas said, the two sides aiming for a peace deal by the end of 2008 as targeted by Washington have only had “exchanges of ideas, a dialogue ... in depth.” The Palestinian leader stressed that the contacts since the peace process was revived at a US-hosted conference in November had homed in on core issues and final-status points of dispute. “We are now in a process of negotiations in which we are discussing key issues. We are tackling questions linked to the final status,” Abbas said. “These are serious discussions ... between all the parties concerned -- Palestinians, Israel and also Americans -- on the fact we must use 2008 to seal an accord with Israel on the final status” of the Palestinian territories. But “for now, I cannot say whether we will succeed by the end of 2008,” in time for the end of US President George W. Bush's term in office. Abbas, who held talks with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the Jordanian capital Sunday and Monday, has said he will hold a face-to-face meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next Monday. The last meeting between Abbas and Olmert was in Jerusalem on February 19, after which the Palestinian president suspended all talks in protest at a deadly Israeli blitz on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Jordan's King Abdullah II also headed for Cairo Wednesday. He met Mubarak, after which a three-way gathering took place, the official Mena news agency said.Israel levels Arab home An Israeli wrecking crew has demolished a one-story home in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem. The home was built without a permit. Palestinians say it's virtually impossible for them to obtain building permits in Jerusalem. They say this is part of Israeli efforts to restrict Arab population growth in the city. City officials say they enforce building codes equally in all parts of Jerusalem. The home of the Hamdan family in the Anata neighborhood of Jerusalem was razed Wednesday. It was demolished once before, and was rebuilt last summer by peace activists. – Agencies Former Jerusalem city council member Meir Margalit says the municipality issues only about 130 building permits in Arab neighborhoods each year. That's well below what is needed. __
