Rice meets Fatah officials in Jerusalem

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday held talks with officials of Palestinian Fatah movement at the American Consulate-General in Jerusalem over the political stalemate in the Palestinian territories.

The meeting held shortly before Rice's leaving for Ramallah for a parley with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also the head of Fatah movement.

Rice is seeking to boost Abbas in his standoff with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which dominates the Palestinian parliament and controls government.

Ahead of his meeting with Rice, Abbas has said that his dialogue with Hamas over forming the coalition government was stopped in the wake of factional violence that has claimed more than a dozen lives in past few days.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, due to meet Rice Wednesday evening, is to reiterate that Iran poses an existential threat against the State of Israel.

Olmert is expected to stress in talks with Rice that the United States must play a central role in countering the Iran's nuclear ambitions.

On Thursday, Rice will meet Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and is then expected to leave Israel for a possible unscheduled visit to Beirut.

Rice arrived in Israel and the Palestinian territories after a meeting Tuesday in Cairo with the foreign ministers of six Gulf Cooperation Council member states plus Egypt and Jordan.

At the end of the meeting, she called for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Source: Xinhua