Region | Palestinian Territories
Palestine and Israel resume talks
Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday said that Israel and the Palestine had agreed to resume peace talks.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:53 March 6, 2008
- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not specify a date for talks to begin again
- Image Credit: AP
Occupied Jerusalem: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to resume peace talks suspended over an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, but she did not specify a date.
Signalling a willingness by Israel to hold fire, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said there would not be further attacks on Hamas-ruled Gaza if Palestinian militants stop rocket salvoes.
Rice dispatched a top envoy to Cairo, a key player in trying to broker any calm between the Jewish state and Hamas. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said earlier peace negotiations could not get under way again until Israel reached a truce with militants in Gaza, which has been under a blockade designed to pressure Hamas.
Hectic lobbying
Abbas's comments touched off a flurry of behind-the-scenes lobbying by Rice with the Palestinians. After speaking to Abbas by telephone, she told a news conference a truce was not a condition for restarting the talks on Palestinian statehood. "I've been informed by the parties that they intend to resume the negotiations and that they are in contact with one another as to how to bring this about," Rice said at a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
In Cairo, Arab League foreign ministers yesterday denounced Israel's deadly attacks on the Gaza Strip over the past week as "war crimes". At a ministerial meeting, they denounced "the savage crimes carried out by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza ... considering them war crimes and crimes against humanity."
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