Olmert agrees to three-way meeting with Abbas and Rice

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today told the visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he will attend a three-way meeting with her and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, an Olmert spokesman said.

The spokesman, Jacob Galanti, said no date for the meeting was set, though it will not take place during Rice’s current swing through the Middle East, which ends on Friday.

Galanti also did not know whether the Palestinians have agreed to the meeting.

Palestinian officials weren’t immediately available for comment.

Olmert met this morning with Rice, who is in the region in part to try to nudge along sluggish Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.