Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have agreed to meet every two weeks to discuss what the US secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called 'initial steps that could eventually lead towards a Palestinian state'.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have agreed to meet every two weeks to discuss what the US secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called 'initial steps that could eventually lead towards a Palestinian state'.
Olmert had previously ruled out talks on Palestinian statehood with President Abbas of Fatah after he formed a unity government with Hamas. However, Rice said at a news conference in Jerusalem that the bi-weekly talks between Abbas and Olmert would initially focus on security issues and also "begin to discuss the development of a political horizon consistent with the establishment of a Palestinian state in accordance with the Road Map".
"We are not yet at final status negotiations. These are initial discussions to build confidence," Rice added. The current route of the wall and the Israeli intention to annex major settlement blocs to Israel constitute serious challenges to the Road Map, which advises territorial contiguity in the Palestinian areas to form a viable Palestinian state. However, the currently planned route would split the West Bank into three sections.
One day before the Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, Rice asked the Arab world to reach out to Israel. The Arab countries have decided to re-launch a peace plan originally presented in 2002, which suggests a full recognition of and normalization with Israel in exchange of a full withdrawal from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Israel responded with a major invasion into the West Bank and reoccupied all areas classified as “A”, which according to the Oslo agreement, ar under total Palestinian control. Rice hopes that steps towards a broader Arab-Israeli reconciliation would make it easier to make progress on the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian front.
"We have to recognise that in a conflict that has gone on for decades and in which there is so much distrust, violence and death, it's going to take some time to achieve our goals," Rice says.
