RIYADH/GAZA CITY, 16 January 2007 — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the Kingdom yesterday from Egypt where she had talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Rice, whose visit to the Kingdom follows those to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Egypt, was due to meet Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
“She is here in the Kingdom to talk to Saudi officials about regional stability,” said Melissa Ford, press secretary at the US Embassy.
Her visit is the first by a senior member of the Bush administration since US President George W. Bush announced his new strategy for Iraq. Last week, the Saudi foreign minister said at a press conference that the Kingdom was waiting for Rice to clarify the new US strategy. The Kingdom’s policies, he pointed out, prevented it from interfering in domestic issues in Iraq.
Prince Saud and Rice are expected to hold a press conference today at the Conference Palace on their discussions which will include the peace process in Palestine as well as the situation in both Iraq and Lebanon.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Rice agreed during their meeting in Jerusalem to hold a three-way summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the near future. Olmert’s spokeswoman Miri Eisin confirmed that the prime minister had agreed “in principle” to attend the summit. But she said no date or place had been set.
Also yesterday, Israel announced a settlement expansion in the West Bank. The news of the first tenders announced this year by the Housing Ministry, which invited bids for construction of 44 new units in the largest Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, came as Rice and Olmert were meeting at the premier’s Jerusalem residence.
The three-way summit announcement came after Rice met with President Mubarak in Luxor. Rice’s talks were aimed at breathing new life into stalled Mideast efforts, a key concern for top US Arab allies whose help Washington is seeking in Iraq.
Rice told reporters in Luxor that her talks during the visits dealt with laying the groundwork for “a political horizon that will lead to a Palestinian state.” She said she would “soon meet” with Olmert and Abbas “to have discussions on the broad issues of that horizon, so we can work on the road map and try to accelerate the road map to move to a Palestinian state.”
She said the summit with Olmert and Abbas would take place “relatively soon” but did not set a date.
In Jerusalem, Olmert told lawmakers of his Kadima party that he and Rice had agreed on “a three-way meeting with Abbas” to be organized “in a short time.”
— With input from agencies
