Rice lays foundation for summit

The secretary of state said she's committed to a goal of peace in the Middle East.
WASHINGTON POST
JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shuttled between meetings Sunday with Palestinian and Israeli leaders, seeking to lay the groundwork for a successful three-way summit today in the face of Israeli anger at a new Palestinian government that includes the militant group Hamas.
Rice made it clear she is staking her reputation as secretary of state on her ability to leverage the talks today into a new effort at forging Middle East peace that includes not only the two parties but also Arab neighbors.
"I am committed to this," Rice told a group of U.S. reporters Sunday night. "This takes hard work. It takes patience, it takes perseverance, it takes getting up after a bad day and trying to make a better day. And that's what I am going to do. As long as I am secretary of state, that's what I am going to do. And that's what the president wants me to do."
The talks are officially "informal discussions" on what Rice calls a "political horizon" for a possible Palestinian state. But by all accounts, Rice faces daunting odds.
Both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are politically weakened, making it difficult for either side to make tough compromises. Olmert is also feuding openly with his foreign minister, Tzipi Livni; she is also Olmert's chief political rival, making him less interested in backing diplomacy that might enhance her position.
Joining new government
Abbas, meanwhile, recently agreed to have his Fatah political party join a new government dominated by Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Israeli officials have condemned the new government, saying it cannot be a partner in peace.
On Sunday, Olmert touted a phone conversation he had with President Bush on Friday, in which Olmert said they agreed to shun the Palestinian government unless it recognizes Israel, renounces violence and commits to previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Those principles had earlier been outlined as conditions for the government's recognition by the mediating group known as the Quartet, made up of the U. S., the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
Palestinian officials said Abbas, in a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, asked Rice to promote the idea of launching regular, exploratory talks on the contours of a Palestinian state. Palestinian officials reported she favored it but Olmert was skeptical. Olmert and Abbas also have a regular channel for discussing ways to ease conditions for the Palestinians, but Abbas is now seeking a second, low-key venue for regular talks on the formation of a Palestinian state.
Rice declined to say whether she raised the concept when she met later Sunday with Olmert.