Rice manages to end Palestinian boycott on peace talks

Peace talks are due to resume between Israel and Palestinians after they were abandoned over military action in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today the two sides would return to the negotiating table, ending her brief troubleshooting mission to the region on a positive note.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas broke off talks at the beginning of the week in protest at an Israeli military assault in Gaza aimed at rooting out militants from the extremist Hamas movement who were launching a barrage of rockets into southern Israel.

Earlier today Mr Abbas said he would not renew negotiations until Israel declared a truce. But under pressure from Ms Rice, he backed down.

“I’ve been informed by the parties that they intend to resume the negotiations and are in contact with one another as to how to bring this about,” Ms Rice said in Jerusalem following a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Ms Rice pointedly did not call for a truce and urged Hamas to halt its rocket fire. At the same time, she urged Israel to do its best to protect Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire.

Mr Abbas announced his change of heart in a statement from his West Bank headquarters. He did not say when talks would resume.

Next week US General William Fraser will be sent to the region to attempt to move the peace process on as a gesture to the Palestinians, who hope for American pressure on Israel.

In January President George Bush appointed General Fraser to monitor both sides’ compliance with the plan, which is to eventually lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The plan’s initial stage calls on Israel to stop settlement activity and obliges the Palestinians to clamp down on militants. Mr Abbas, however, controls only the West Bank and has no influence over Gaza, which has been ruled by Hamas since a violent takeover in June.

Both sides, Ms Rice said, need to carry out their road map obligations to have “robust” peace negotiations.

Mr Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formally relaunched peace talks at a last November, pledging to forge a final peace agreement by the end of the year.

The return to negotiations after seven years of fighting has been troubled by violence and continued Israeli building on lands the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Tensions peaked over the past week. During the fighting, Gaza militants extended the range of their fire closer to Israel’s centre, and Israel struck back with an assault that Gaza officials say killed more than 120 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians.

Ms Rice initially had planned to visit the region to prod along peace efforts, but last week it became clear that she would be called upon to put out the latest fire.

Confidence-building measures have been critical to the peacemaking, and Ms Rice asserted today that “we do need to have improvements on the ground.”