Israeli, Palestinian leaders to meet every fortnight

ISRAELI and Palestinian leaders have agreed to meet every two weeks to discuss day-to-day issues, in a move that eventually could spur talks on a final peace settlement, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced yesterday.

After going between the two sides for the past three days, she also said her envoy will try to set benchmarks for implementing a ceasefire, including the halting of rocket fire from Gaza, and for improving the flow of Palestinian people and goods through Israeli crossings.

Ms Rice said she believed it was still possible for a peace deal to be reached during US President George W Bush’s term and that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas showed flexibility.

“They achieved something, which is the very regularised meetings between the two of them, in which they will not just talk about their day-to-day issues, but also about a political horizon,” Ms Rice said.

But a senior Israeli government official said that for now, Mr Olmert will only talk to Mr Abbas about security and humanitarian issues, as well as a “general political horizon,” which was not further defined by Rice or Israeli officials. Mr Olmert will not discuss specifics, such as the borders of a future Palestinian state, said the official.

However, the official said Mr Olmert could start addressing final status issues once there is no more rocket fire from Gaza and Hamas-allied militants release an Israeli soldier they captured nine months ago.