Visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday
that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian National
Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet every two
weeks, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on its website.
A senior Israeli official made clear, however, that substantive
talks on statehood between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would not be on the agenda for
now.
Other Israeli officials cited disagreements between Olmert and
Rice over the scope of deliberations.
"The issues would be security, humanitarian and the political
horizon," the senior official said, the latter term a loose
reference to a US-backed vision of a Palestinian state alongside a
secure Israel.
"Political horizon is not about specifics," the official said,
appearing to rule out any discussion soon on core issues such as
the future of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state and the
fate of Palestinian refugees.
On her fourth visit in four months, Rice tried to revive peace
hopes dimmed last year by the establishment of a Hamas-led
government and further complicated by the creation earlier this
month of a unity administration with Abbas's Fatah faction.
The power-sharing partnership has not met demands by a Quartet
of Middle East mediators to recognize Israel, renounce violence and
accept existing interim peace accords.
At a news conference postponed from Monday evening after discord
with Olmert, Rice said the prime minister and Abbas "have agreed
that they plan to meet together bi-weekly".
"We are not yet at final-status negotiations. These are initial
discussions to build confidence," Rice said, ending her visit a day
before Arab states open a summit in Riyadh where they intend to
relaunch a 2002 plan for peace with Israel.
Olmert told reporters on Monday he would maintain constant
contacts with Abbas, but did not say how frequently they would
meet. The Israeli leader said after the unity government was
inaugurated he would limit such talks to humanitarian issues.
His agreement to see Abbas regularly appeared to be a gesture to
Washington, which is eager to show the Arab world and European
allies that it is making efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Saeb Erekat, a senior adviser to Abbas, said Rice "managed to
keep the door open between us and the Israelis which was closing
rapidly in the past few days".
Rice said Abbas and Olmert would focus on security issues but
also "begin to discuss the development of a political horizon
consistent with the establishment of a Palestinian state in
accordance with the 'road map'".
Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians have fulfilled their
commitments under the US-backed plan, which calls for Israel to
halt settlement building in the occupied West Bank and the
Palestinians to dismantle militant groups.
In a renewed bid to bolster the moderate Abbas, the United
States plans to provide US$59 million to strengthen security forces
loyal to him and additional money to support any future elections,
US documents showed.
(China Daily via agencies March 28, 2007)
