Source: Ynetnews
Feb 19, 2007
Senior Israeli officials on Monday said no one should expect a peace breakthrough during a three-way summit between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas and visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice scheduled for later in the day.
They noted that the Hamas-controlled half of the Palestinian Authority remains opposed to even recognizing Israel's right to exist, while Abbas appears unwilling to demand compliance from his ruling partners.
One official noted that the most that could be hoped for was for Israel and the "Palestinians" to "agree to disagree."
Those realizations called into question Washington's motivation for hosting the summit before one of the sides is ready to even accept the existence of the other.