Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) informed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday that progress has continued, albeit slowly, in talks between the PA and Israel negotiating teams. "We have gone over 90 percent of the issues," Abbas announced at a joint news conference with Rice following their meeting.
The American Secretary of State concurred, saying, "We continue to believe it is an achievable goal to have an agreement between the [PA Arabs] and the Israelis by the end of the year."
Rice traveled to meet with Abbas at his Ramallah headquarters in Samaria Sunday afternoon after meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Jerusalem earlier in the day to discuss more concessions by Israel on security issues.