JERUSALEM, 6 March 2008 — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday Israelis and Palestinians had agreed to resume peace talks suspended over an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, but she did not specify a date.
Signaling a willingness by Israel to hold fire, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said there would not be further attacks on Hamas-ruled Gaza if Palestinians stop rocket salvoes.
Rice dispatched a top envoy to Cairo, a key player in trying to broker any calm between the Jewish state and Hamas.
Hamas’ rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said earlier that peace negotiations could not get under way again until Israel reached a truce with Hamas members in Gaza, which has been under an ever-tightening blockade designed to pressure Hamas.
Abbas’ comments touched off a flurry of behind-the-scenes lobbying by Rice with the Palestinians. After speaking to Abbas by telephone, she told a news conference a truce was not a condition for restarting the talks on Palestinian statehood.
“I’ve been informed by the parties that they intend to resume the negotiations and that they are in contact with one another as to how to bring this about,” Rice said at a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Rice, ending a two-day visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank yesterday, did not say when the next round of talks would be held.
The United States hopes talks could result in an agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office in January.
