United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday morning.  Abbas is expected to ask Rice to clarify the purpose of the Middle East peace conference scheduled to take place in the U.S. in November.

While Israeli officials have urged Rice to set realistic expectations for the conference and to make do with “mutual understandings,” Abbas has been pushing for a more concrete commitment.  He is expected to tell Rice that there will be no purpose to the conference if Israel is not willing to promise concessions to the PA beforehand.