Region | Palestinian Territories

US hopes for Mideast peace before Bush leaves office

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make another trip to the Middle East next week to continue the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, officials said on Monday.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 13:03 August 18, 2008
  • Gulf News

Occupied Jerusalem: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make another trip to the Middle East next week to continue the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, officials said on Monday.

"She is coming on the 25th and 26th of August for a series of trilateral and bilateral meetings," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Rice originally planned to visit the region on August 20. After the trip, she will visit Brussels to meet with Nato and EU officials.

Israel confirmed the dates for talks to be held in Occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Meanwhile, an Israeli cabinet committee approved on Monday a list of 200 Palestinian prisoners to be released on August 25.

Two of the longest-serving prisoners, Said Al Atabeh and Mohammad Abu Ali, will also be freed.

Atabeh, 57, of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), was arrested in 1977, accused of organising attacks on Israeli troops, while Abu Ali, 52, was jailed in 1980 for killing a leader of Jewish settlers near Hebron, in the West Bank.

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