President of the Palestinian National Authority
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority which controls the West Bank, held talks on 27 January in Jerusalem on the border breach. Abbas reportedly wants to take over Gaza's border crossings, including the one with Egypt that Palestinians in Gaza breached, but Israel resisted the idea of giving the West Bank-based government control of the Gaza crossings, citing concerns about security.