Israeli and Palestinian Leaders to Hold Regular Talks, Says Rice

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to meet each other every fortnight as part of a mutual confidence-building plan, the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said today.

Ms Rice said the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, would discuss day-to-day issues and the wider "political horizon" at their talks.

The announcement came after she had spent the last few days meeting Israeli, Palestinian and Arab leaders, attempting to persuade the Israelis to be more flexible in their dealings with Mr Abbas and to encourage greater Arab support for eventual peace negotiations.

Ms Rice's talks with Mr Olmert, which took place at her Jerusalem hotel, lasted late into yesterday evening and pushed her scheduled press conference back to this morning.

"They achieved something, which is the very regularised meetings between the two of them," she said, adding that she would occasionally participate in the meetings.

Details, however, remained generally vague, although the talks would include some concrete goals for implementing a ceasefire, including the halting of rocket fire from Gaza and improving the flow of Palestinian travellers and goods through Israeli crossings.

Israeli officials stressed that Mr Olmert would not, for now, begin discussing specifics about a future Palestinian state.

Ms Rice said the US would help the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to overcome obstacles and "develop new ideas", although she gave no details.

"We are not yet at final status negotiations. These are initial discussions to build confidence between parties," she added, also calling on Arab states to take an active role in regional peace efforts.

Ms Rice's task has been made all harder by the formation of a new Palestinian unity government, inaugurated last week, which combines Mr Abbas's Fatah movement with the ruling Hamas group - considered by the US and EU to be a terrorist organisation.

Mr Olmert reacted to the Palestinian president's coalition with Hamas, which refuses to recognise Israel, by ruling out talks on anything greater than day-to-day concerns such as humanitarian issues.

Ms Rice appeared to partially talk Mr Olmert round during their long talks last night, although it remains to be seen whether this will amount to a genuine breakthrough.

The secretary of state had "managed to keep the door open between us and Israel", the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said.

However, a senior Israeli government official, speaking anonymously after Ms Rice's comments, said Mr Olmert would limit himself to security and humanitarian issues and very general talks about the political future.

Specifics such as the borders of a future Palestinian state could only be addressed once rocket fire from Gaza into Israel ended and Hamas-allied militants released an Israeli soldier they captured nine months ago, the official added.

The new developments came at a time of high-profile diplomacy, with both Ms Rice and the new UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, in the region.