[Ha'aretz ] Avi Issacharoff and Barak Ravid - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pressuring Israel and the Palestinian Authority to try to agree on a document of understandings by September, ahead of the UN General Assembly, according to Palestinian sources. Rice wants to be able to present the document during the General Assembly to show progress in the talks. A senior Israeli official confirmed that Rice wants to use the General Assembly to present a document summarizing the progress of the last nine months. The Israeli and PA teams, headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Ahmed Qureia, will arrive in Washington on Wednesday to continue negotiations. A three-way meeting with Rice is expected. According to the Israeli official, "neither we nor the Palestinians want a deadline that can't be met. That will only hurt the talks and the good progress that has been achieved so far." The official said gaps remain on most issues. Livni and Qureia agree that talks should reach a point where they can survive changes of government on all sides, including in the U.S.
2008-07-28 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive