Rice to try to salvage Mideast talks today
Washington, 30 July (IranVNC) —Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is meeting with top Israeli and Palestinian officials in Washington this week in one of the Bush administration’s final attempts to broker a peace agreement between the feuding sides.
By: IranVNC
Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008
10:39GMT—6:39AM/EST
ISRAEL-PALESTINE-RICE-TALKS
Washington, 30 July (IranVNC) —Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is meeting with top Israeli and Palestinian officials in Washington this week in one of the Bush administration’s final attempts to broker a peace agreement between the feuding sides.
The current US administration plans to secure a peace deal by the end of this year, though the little headway made in the ongoing talks has made this goal increasingly unrealistic—a setback that has prompted the Bush White House to scale back expectations, reports AFP.
“Our goal as the United States is to work as hard as we can to encourage the parties to resolve the differences between them,” Rice said yesterday, AP reports. “They are working very, very hard. They are also working very seriously.”
Yesterday Rice met the senior Palestinian negotiator, Ahmed Qureia, and will meet the Israeli negotiator, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni today, before holding a two hour joint session with both envoys.
Rice confirmed that Israel is still committed to finding a common ground with the Palestinians this year, but she gave no details of any progress made.
Sources: Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
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