Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may meet on Saturday evening at Olmert's house in Jerusalem, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported Friday.

Some Israeli sources told Radio Sawa that the date of the Olmert-Abbas meeting was set by Palestinian and Israeli officials who met on Thursday evening, MENA said.

The meeting also dwelt on the goodwill steps with which Olmert would be greeting Abbas, the sources were quoted as saying.

No immediate official confirmation is available at the moment.

However, Abbas, following a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, told reporters on Thursday that he hoped to meet Olmert before the end of the year as both sides push to resume long-stalled peace talks.

"We are not revealing a secret when we say that we hope the meeting with Olmert will take place before the end of this year," he said.

Olmert also told reporters this week a meeting would take place "very soon" but gave no details.

The two last met in Jordan in June, a few days before Palestinian militants captured the Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit in southeast Gaza Strip.

Source: Xinhua