"DIFFERENT MOOD"
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."
A senior U.S. official, briefing reporters on Rice's plane after she left Israel, said he detected a new willingness on the part of Olmert's government to engage Abbas.
"There really was a different mood, a willingness to try and see what this track can produce," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing confidential diplomatic exchanges.
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."'
The broader Arab League proposal that will be a focus of the Riyadh summit offers Israel normal ties in return for a full withdrawal from land it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
"Such bold outreach can turn the Arab League's words into the basis of active diplomacy and it can hasten the day when the state called Palestine will take its rightful place in the international community," Rice said.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to hold confidence-building talks every two weeks that could eventually lead to discussions on a Palestinian state, U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070327/ts_ … srael_dc_9
I anticipate the pessimism in the post to follow but this kinda news is still better than the alternative.
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."
A senior U.S. official, briefing reporters on Rice's plane after she left Israel, said he detected a new willingness on the part of Olmert's government to engage Abbas.
"There really was a different mood, a willingness to try and see what this track can produce," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing confidential diplomatic exchanges.
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."'
The broader Arab League proposal that will be a focus of the Riyadh summit offers Israel normal ties in return for a full withdrawal from land it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
"Such bold outreach can turn the Arab League's words into the basis of active diplomacy and it can hasten the day when the state called Palestine will take its rightful place in the international community," Rice said.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to hold confidence-building talks every two weeks that could eventually lead to discussions on a Palestinian state, U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070327/ts_ … srael_dc_9
I anticipate the pessimism in the post to follow but this kinda news is still better than the alternative.
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