US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank this week, it was confirmed today.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
The meeting was announced a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table, saying his country would be willing to leave most of the West Bank to make way for an independent Palestinian state there and in Gaza.
Ms Rice's visit would add US weight to efforts to use a the Gaza truce, which took effect on Sunday, as a springboard for renewing long-stalled peace talks.
The secretary of state, who is accompanying President Bush this week on his trip to Jordan, will meet Mr Abbas on Thursday in the West Bank town of Jericho, an Abbas aide, said.
Israeli officials said there were no plans for Ms Rice to meet Israeli leaders during her trip. Mr Olmert met Mr Bush and Ms Rice in Washington two weeks ago.
The United States was the main engine behind the "road map" peace plan, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The plan foundered shortly after it was presented in 2003 amid infringements by both sides.
Subsequent efforts to get the sides talking again took another blow in January, when Hamas militants won Palestinian parliamentary elections, leading to international sanctions meant to pressure the Islamic group to moderate its violently anti-Israel positions.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Tensions exploded in June with the capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked militants and an ensuing five-month Israeli military offensive in Gaza.
But the ceasefire that went into effect early Sunday has significantly curtailed Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli towns bordering Gaza, raising hopes that peacemaking would follow.
In speech delivered yesterday, Mr Olmert hinted at the prospect of major confidence-building measures, including the release of frozen funds and freedom for some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners Israel holds, should the Palestinians choose the path of peace.
"I hold out my hand in peace to our Palestinian neighbours in the hope that it won't be returned empty," Mr Olmert said.
He did not offer any new ideas about the thorniest issues dividing Israel and the Palestinians, however - borders, the status of disputed Jerusalem and a Palestinian demand that refugees and their descendants be allowed to return to sovereign Israel.