No progress at three-way talks

US secretary of state, Palestinian president and Israeli PM “reaffirm commitments”.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (C), Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
First meeting between Palestinian and Israeli leaders and a senior US official since June 2003 [EPA]
Contacts maintained
 
In more than two hours of talks she said the two leaders “reiterated their acceptance of previous agreements and obligations”, including the US-backed peace road map.
 
Rice was alone as she made the 90-second statement at a news conference.
 
Speaking after the summit at a meeting with politicians from his Kadima Party, Olmert said he would maintain contact with Abbas, despite his dissatisfaction with the incoming Palestinian unity government.
Eye on summit

Ordinary Palestinians and Israelis have few expectations

Olmert said: “We have to maintain a channel of communications with the Palestinians, and the only possible conduit is the Palestinian president.”

 
The Israeli prime minister said the contacts would focus on ways to improve the lives of Palestinians.
 
He said he had stressed “unequivocally” during the summit that the Palestinian government must accept international conditions for recognising Israel.
 
Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Phillips, speaking from Jerusalem, said: “It is difficult to see anything tangible from the meeting.”
 
Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent, said: “The view here is that Rice has backed the Israeli line and disregarded Palestinian aspirations.”
 
It was the first meeting between Palestinian and Israeli leaders and a senior US official since June 2003.
 
Little optimism
 
Before the summit, Rice had spent the weekend shuttling between the two sides holding what she described as extensive, cordial and candid talks.
 
However, prospects for the meeting had appeared poor due to the uncertainty of the Palestinian political situation and the weakness of the Israeli leadership.
 
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At a meeting in Mecca in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, Abbas and Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister from the Hamas party, agreed on a formula for a Palestinian unity government.

 
The Quartet of Middle East mediators, consisting of Russia, the European Union, the UN and the US, had demanded Palestine recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept previous peace accords in exchange for restoring foreign aid to the Palestinian territories.
 
Olmert said on Sunday that the new coalition does not meet those demands, so Israel would not deal with such a government and that George Bush, the US president, agreed with that.
 
US officials said Olmert did not speak for Washington and Rice has said she would draw no conclusions until the formation of the new Palestinian government was known.
 
After an inconclusive war last summer in Lebanon, Olmert’s own position is tenuous.
 
His approval rating has plummeted below 20 per cent, leaving it politically difficult for him to carry out far-reaching concessions that would be needed for a peace accord with the Palestinians.
Source: News Agencies