Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya on Tuesday downplayed a recent meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"There is a continued Israeli policy of arrest and expulsion in the West Bank in contradiction with results of the Abbas-Olmert meeting," Haneya told a cabinet meeting.

"The Abbas-Olmert meeting was in a valley and the Israeli policy was in another valley," Haneya said.

Olmert met with Abbas in Jerusalem last Saturday. Israel agreed to ease restriction on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and dismantle 27 West Bank roadblocks.

Israel also said that it would transfer frozen tax revenues to the Palestinians.

The United States considered the Abbas-Olmert meeting as the first step toward establishment of a Palestinian statehood with temporary borders in two years.

Rejecting the U.S. comments, Haneya said, "We don't trust American plans and the United States has to recognize the Palestinians' rights and principles."

Source: Xinhua