JERUSALEM: U.S. Secretary of State Rice meets Israeli FM Livni to prepare trilateral meeting, say will comment on new Palestinian government when it's formed.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as part of a series of preparatory meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials. Rice arrived at the region to hold a trilateral summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to revive peace talks between the two parties. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Saturday night (February 17), in the first of a series of preparatory meetings ahead of a trilateral summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. After a surprise trip to Iraq, Rice arrived in Israel on Saturday in an uphill bid to revive stalled peace talks after Abbas issued a defiant call for acceptance of his pact with Hamas. Rice is scheduled to hold separate talks with Abbas and Olmert on Sunday (February 18), laying the groundwork for a three-way summit in Jerusalem on Monday (February 19). The summit was overshadowed by a threatened American and Israeli boycott of the power-sharing government between Abbas's Fatah and Hamas Islamists. Initially billed as an opportunity to discuss establishing a Palestinian state, Israeli officials said the three-way summit would focus instead on disagreements over the unity deal. During a joint news conference with Rice, Livni said a unity government deal between Abbas and the Hamas movement did not satisfy the demands of the international community. "The agreements between Fatah and Hamas unfortunately... and before the formation of the future Palestinian government, the understandings doesn't meet the requirements of the international community. It is crucial to understand that Israel, with the international community, expects any Palestinian government to meet these requirements fully and completely," she said. Her comments marked a hardening of Israel's public response to the deal. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier this week the Jewish state "neither rejects nor accepts the agreements". Israel and the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators have demanded that the Palestinian government recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals. Rice said the United States would await the formation of the unity government before passing judgement. "We of course have said that we will await the formation of the government before making any decisions about it and I think this is generally the view that is held in the international community as a whole," she said. But Israel's Channel 10 television reported that Olmert and U.S. President George W. Bush reached a joint agreement during a telephone conversation on Friday not to recognise the unity government. A spokeswoman for Olmert's office had no immediate comment. Earlier this week Palestinian officials and Western diplomats said the United States told Abbas it would boycott the Palestinian government, including non-Hamas ministers.

ITN Source | February 18, 2007

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