ISRAEL: Secretary of State Rice meets Israeli leaders in effort to ease a closure of Gaza border crossings and bolster moderate President Mahmoud Abbas

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with the Israeli leadership on Thursday (October 5) a day after meeting the Palestinian leadership in an effort to bolster the moderate Palestinian President and ease closure on the Gaza Strip. Rice promised at a news conference with President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Wednesday (October 5) to "redouble ... efforts to improve the conditions of the Palestinian people" and press Israel to ease a closure of Gaza border crossings. She later met Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, whose office quoted him as telling Rice Israel planned to open Karni, its main commercial crossing with Gaza, in the near future. Israel has frequently closed the gateway, citing security concerns. Speaking after his talks with Rice, Abbas made clear his patience was running thin in efforts to persuade Hamas to soften its policy towards Israel and form a unity government with his formerly dominant Fatah faction which Palestinians hope can lead to an end to a Western aid embargo. Fourteen Palestinians have died in fighting between rival factions this week, the worst internal violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in a decade. Rice is on a regional visit partly aimed at bolstering the moderate Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas. The Islamist group, dedicated to Israel's destruction, defeated Fatah in January elections and formed a government in March. Abbas's chief of staff said the president gave Rice a "working paper" to convey to Israel on ways to move towards a resumption of peacemaking and ease Israeli restrictions on Palestinian trade and travel. During her regional trip, Rice also hopes to win Arab support for the embattled governments in Iraq and Lebanon, where 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas ended in a U.N.-sponsored ceasefire on August

ITN Source | October 5, 2006

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