LAUSANNE, Switzerland: Palestinian and Israeli Olympic officials met Thursday to begin building closer ties and help send stronger teams to the 2012 London Games. IOC President Jacques Rogge, who traveled to the Middle East in October, brokered a five-hour gathering at Olympic headquarters that also addressed lifting Israeli travel restrictions to allow Palestinian athletes and coaches more freedom to travel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The parties hailed the “positive and constructive” meeting, and agreed to study the travel issues before returning to Lausanne in March. They aim to then present proposals to their governments. “We believe that through sport we can make a difference. I hope today we made the first steps,” Efraim Zinger, secretary general of the Israel Olympic committee, told the Associated Press. Zinger described Palestinian Olympic leader Jibril Rajoub as a partner in the process. Rajoub said it was “a common choice for everybody” at the meeting to seek better ways of helping Palestinian athletes and teams compete internationally. As a first step, Palestinian athletes were promised IOC funding and Israeli support to prepare for the London Olympics. Only four Palestinian athletes competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, even though the team is entitled to additional help through the IOC's solidarity program.
