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Rice holds key Middle East summit US holds rare Middle East summit
(about 2 hours later)
US-brokered talks between the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians have begun amid tight security in Jerusalem. United States-brokered talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders have taken place in Jerusalem.
It is US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's first joint talks with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.It is US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's first joint talks with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
Ms Rice has been lowering expectations of progress in the peace process.Ms Rice has been lowering expectations of progress in the peace process.
Palestinian Authority President Abbas has recently agreed a power sharing deal with the ruling Hamas movement which is sworn to Israel's destruction.Palestinian Authority President Abbas has recently agreed a power sharing deal with the ruling Hamas movement which is sworn to Israel's destruction.
Mr Olmert has said Israel and the US will boycott any Palestinian government which does not recognise Israel. The deal earlier this month between Hamas and Mr Abbas's Fatah movement ended weeks of internal fighting that has cost more than 90 lives.
Ms Rice said the US would reserve judgement until the proposed national unity government had been formed. Mr Olmert said on Sunday that US President George W Bush had privately promised Washington would join Israel in shunning any government including Hamas.
The peace process has to be initiated by the countries in the mid east themselves, the US cannot do it millan, Brunswick, ME class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5549&edition=1&ttl=20070218084944">Your say: Can Rice help? The deal earlier this month between Hamas and Mr Abbas's Fatah movement ended weeks of internal fighting that has cost more than 90 lives. But Ms Rice said the US would reserve judgement until the proposed national unity government had been formed.
Sitting alone
Mr Abbas, Mr Olmert and Ms Rice exchanged polite smiles and shook hands before sitting at a table in a bare room in a luxury Jerusalem hotel.
The peace process has to be initiated by the countries in the mid east themselves, the US cannot do it Millan, Brunswick, Maine, USA Your say: Can Rice help? The meeting was expected to last two hours, and the three would sit alone, accompanied only by interpreters, officials said.
Ms Rice was extremely circumspect in the run-up to the meeting and declined even to discuss the agenda.
"Not only am I not going to talk about what we're going to talk about before going in, I'm probably not going to talk about it coming out," she said on Sunday.
The last summit attended by a top US official took place in 2003, when Mr Rice's predecessor Colin Powell met former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and Mr Abbas, who was then Palestinian prime minister.
The fact that no joint news conference has been scheduled after the three-way summit - just a statement by Dr Rice - suggests expectations are low, correspondents say.
Falling short
The meeting - billed last month as the launch of a new US initiative to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations - has been eclipsed by the Fatah-Hamas agreement signed in Mecca earlier in February.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas now has five weeks to get a new cabinet accepted by the Hamas-dominated parliament.Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas now has five weeks to get a new cabinet accepted by the Hamas-dominated parliament.
The BBC's Bethany Bell in Jerusalem says the summit was originally aimed at reviving possible peace negotiations but it has been overshadowed by concerns about the future Palestinian unity government. The US and Israel have stressed that any future Palestinian administration must recognise Israel, renounce violence and commit to previous agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
Ms Rice spent more than two hours in talks with Mr Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Sunday. She then held talks in Jerusalem with Mr Olmert. But correspondents say the broad-brush outlines of the Hamas-Fatah deal appear to fall short of international conditions to end the government's diplomatic isolation and reopen sources of desperately-needed funding.
The US and Israel have stressed that any future Palestinian administration must recognise Israel, renounce violence and commit to previous agreements between the PA and Israel. There are also doubts about whether two embattled leaders like Mr Olmert and Mr Abbas are strong enough to take decisive steps towards peace.
The fact that no news conference has been scheduled after the three-way summit - just a statement by Dr Rice - suggests expectations are low, correspondents say.