Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time in six weeks on Monday, spending three hours together in an effort to restart Mideast peace talks.

Talks between the two leaders had been sidelined since late February after an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that left more than 120 people dead.

After Monday's gathering, an Israeli government spokesman said Abbas raised humanitarian concerns, the issue of continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and plans by Israel to build in East Jerusalem neighbourhoods.

The spokesman said Olmert brought up security concerns and the need for Palestinians to stop militants firing rockets into southern Israel from Gaza.

The spokesman said the two leaders, who met at Olmert's official residence in Jerusalem, agreed to meet every two weeks.

"Some of the leaks we are hearing from these negotiations indicate that actually some progress is being made, but the overwhelming skepticism we've seen throughout this process is still very much in place," CBC's Peter Armstrong reported from Jerusalem on Monday.

"Time is moving along. Don't forget, they have just over a year to finish this."

Last November in Annapolis, Maryland, at the behest of U.S. President George W. Bush, the two leaders formally restarted peace talks. The talks have been assembled on a peace plan devised by the U.S. that is meant to result eventually in the creation of a Palestinian state.

The road map for peace calls on Israel to stop settlement activity, and calls on the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups.

Since the Maryland summit, Israel has announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem, occupied areas the Palestinians claim for their future state.

At the same time, Hamas militants have fired dozens of rockets into southern Israel from Gaza, which the group seized control of last June after routing Abbas's Fatah forces there.

In late February, Israel responded to heavy rocket fire by launching a broad offensive in Gaza. More than 120 Palestinians were killed, and Abbas suspended meetings with Olmert.

At the end of March, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with both leaders in an effort to get the peace process back on track.

Following her visit, Israel agreed to remove checkpoints in the West Bank town of Jericho as part of its commitment to ease restrictions and security measures in the territory.

With files from the Associated Press