Nothing new as pointless Jerusalem summit ends

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By Ha'aretz
February 19, 2007

It was originally billed as a major push to restart peace negotiations between Israel and the "Palestinians," but Monday's three-way summit in Jerusalem ended up being a pointless gathering of incompatible agendas.

The meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice only last a couple of hours, and ended without a joint press conference.

Following the talks, Rice appeared alone before reporters to issue a brief statement about how both sides had reaffirmed their commitment to a "two-state solution" and had agreed to meet again under her auspices. She did not take any questions.

Going into the meeting, Israeli officials said their expectations had been severely downgraded after Abbas indicated in a one-on-one session with Rice over the weekend that the new "Palestinian" unity government would not officially recognize Israel's right to exist.

Rice told reporters after Monday's summit that the PLO chief had agreed that "a Palestinian state cannot be born of violence and terror," but his unwillingness to demand compliance from his Hamas governing partners called into question Abbas' own truthfulness on the matter.

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