Rice says conference must be 'substantive'
US secretary of state meets Palestinian president in attempt to bridge difference with Israel ahead of Mideast peace conference, says meeting will lay 'foundations for serious negotiations'
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday an upcoming US-sponsored Middle East conference must be "substantive," and that the two sides must draft a document before the meeting that lays "foundations for serious negotiations."
The conference "has to be substantive and advance the cause of a Palestinian state," Rice told a joint news conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Participants must not "simply meet for the sake of meeting," she said.
Rice met Abbas in Ramallah to try to bridge his differences with Israel over what a US-led Middle East peace conference might achieve.
Rice has found growing interest in “intensifying the dialogue”, a senior aide said, after her talks on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. She will see Olmert again, ending her two-day visit, after her session with Abbas.
Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are working to put together a document before the conference that lays out objectives for further talks. The Palestinians want a specific framework for a peace deal, complete with a timetable, while Israel says it wants a vaguer declaration of intentions.
Rice told reporters that the document must "lay foundations for serious negotiations."
The meeting is expected to take place in November in Washington.
Abbas wants to settle dispute on refugees, J'lem
Abbas, whose Fatah faction lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in June, has made clear he wants a deal that goes beyond previous agreements on the broad outlines of how the 60-year-old conflict can be resolved.The western-backed leader wants an agreement that sets a framework for resolving core disputes on borders, security and the status of Jerusalem and of Palestinian refugees from territory that is now Israel.
The meeting came a day after Israel decided to declare the Gaza Strip an “enemy entity”.
The West Bank-based Palestinian government has already said it wants Washington to press Israel not to cut energy and other supplies to the 1.5 million people of Gaza, despite hostility between Fatah and Hamas.
Rice, who US officials said was unaware of Israel’s plan when she flew in, said Washington shared Israeli opposition to Hamas but expected humanitarian supplies to continue. She also said the internal Palestinian conflict should not jeopardize plans to found a single state in both the West Bank and Gaza.
Reuters contributed to this report
