U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is holding a three-way summit in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. VOA's Jim Teeple reports the meeting has been overshadowed by a controversial power-sharing agreement between the Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas.
Secretary Rice is characterizing the talks as informal discussions rather than negotiations but at the same time she says she hopes to revive talks between Israelis and Palestinians on a broad variety of issues.
"I hope that this meeting with the three of us will be an opportunity to examine the current situation, and to recommit to existing agreements, but also to begin to explore and probe the political and diplomatic horizon," Rice said.
A key topic of discussion is the emerging Palestinian unity government, which Israel says is unacceptable because it does not recognize Israel, renounce violence or accept past peace agreements.
Secretary Rice says the emerging government must meet those conditions, but that no formal decision has been taken yet on whether to boycott it, because it has yet to be formed.
