WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders by telephone ahead of their meeting Tuesday in Jerusalem, the State Department said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hosted Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at his official Jerusalem residence for talks with aides and a 90-minute one-on-one encounter that was their second meeting this month.
Neither leader spoke to the press after the meeting which Israeli officials described as positive, while the Palestinians remained cautious.
"The secretary did have an opportunity yesterday to speak with both President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert in advance of their meeting just to kind of compare notes and talk a little bit about how things are going," said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman.
Rice did not float any specific ideas to the leaders, he said, responding to a question whether she had spoken about the status of Jerusalem, one of several critical issues that needed to be resolved for a peace breakthrough.
"I think this was an opportunity for her simply to touch base with them in advance of their meetings. I wouldn't describe them as particularly prescriptive or detailed in terms of individual ideas like that," he said.
Casey said Rice expected to travel again to the Middle East ahead of an Washington-sponsored Middle East peace conference in the fall.
"It's also very important that there be progress made by the parties before that session takes place," he said.
Washington has increased its diplomatic efforts to jumpstart dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks since the Islamist movement Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in mid-June, ousting forces loyal to the secular Abbas and cleaving the Palestinians into two entities.
Washington and Israel are now seeking to boost Abbas, who controls the West Bank, and to isolate Hamas, which is considered a terror group by the European Union, Israel and the United States.
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