Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas will meet once every two weeks to iron out their differences, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a news conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Rice was addressing the media after a marathon of meetings with regional leaders in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Aswan in Egypt and Amman.
Rice tried to keep both Palestinians and Israelis happy by saying they needed to stick to the Road Map and engage in political discussion. In compliance with Israeli demands, she said these talks would have to be conducted step by step and not jump to final status talks.
Rice is heading for the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Tuesday. She is scheduled to meet with leaders of Saudi Arabia and other Arab states ahead of an Arab summit, and discuss ways of pushing the political process forward.
Along with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Rice is expected to stay in Riyadh for the summit. She called on moderate Arab nations to engage Israel. It is believed the international Quartet (the U.S., Russia, the U.N. and the European Union) is pushing the MidEast Quartet (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt) to negotiate directly with Israel and to help bring a long-term settlement to both the Israeli-Palestinian and the Arab-Israeli conflicts.
Many observers maintain Rice’s fourth visit to the region in as many months has borne few fruits. While she is talking up hopes for a settlement, no real progress is being made. With the Palestinian government refusing to recognize Israel and Jerusalem not moving quickly on the key Palestinian demands, any agreement is far off, according to regular Middle East watchers.