RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for a new round of peace talks this week, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Monday.

"(Abbas) will meet prime minister Olmert on October 17 within the framework of their regular meetings," Riyad Al-Malki said at a news conference in Ramallah, the political capital of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Olmert and Abbas have been meeting about twice a month since the peace process was relaunched at a US conference in November.

Hounded by a series of corruption scandals, Olmert formally resigned on September 21 after the governing Kadima party elected Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as its new leader.

Livni is trying to form a new coalition government so she can also take over as prime minister and avert early elections.

Last month, Olmert said Israel must give up almost the entire occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem as the price for peace with the Palestinians.

But he later said the comments, made in a newspaper interview, reflected his private view and were not binding for Livni.

© 2008 Agence France-Presse