EGYPT: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will bring Israeli and Palestinian leaders together shortly to talk about a future Palestinian state, Rice confirmed at a news conference following a meeting with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will have a meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in three or four weeks in an effort to renew efforts to create a Palestinian state, Rice told a news conference in Luxor, southern Egypt on Monday (January 15). Rice, on a lengthy Middle East tour, arrived in Luxor on Monday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab League chief Amr Moussa. "We have also had an opportunity to talk about the recent discussions I had in Israel and in the Palestinian Territories that we hope will lead to further work on a political process with the Palestinian people that will lead, ultimately, to the establishment of a Palestinian state. I think that our conversations about this were rich. I've always valued the advice and counsel of President Mubarak on this issue. I explained that I will soon meet with Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas to have discussions about the broad issues on the horizon so that we can work on the road map to try and accelerate the road map and to move to the establishment of a Palestinian state," she said. Rice added the two also also discussed the situation in Iraq. Other meetings on the Palestinian issue have taken place in the six years since talks on a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace broke down in 2001.

ITN Source | January 16, 2007

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