Rice holds talks wih Abbas

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas today in the former West Bank headquarters of Yasser Arafat.

Unlike other visiting officials, Rice did not pause at Arafat’s grave as she entered the walled compound in Ramallah.

The Palestinians were expected to ask Rice to press the Israelis for concessions and gestures ahead of tomorrow’s summit between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

Rice’s two-day visit is meant to nudge both sides to take hold of what she called “a time of opportunity”.

It comes as Israel backed off its long-standing refusal to release Palestinian prisoners accused of violence against Israelis and the ruling Fatah movement declared it is ready for a ceasefire with Israel.

Earlier, Rice held talks with Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Mofaz said he agreed with Rice that diplomacy is the preferred tool, for now, for trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. He said possible Israeli military action – in the event that diplomacy fails – was not brought up in the meeting.

Rice urged Israelis and Palestinians to live up to their promises.

Among the major challenges are what to do about Israeli outposts on land that Palestinians eventually would control; the fate of the contentious separation barrier Israel is building between itself and the West Bank; and new security arrangements with the Palestinians.