Rice is set to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzippy Livni as well as with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, reported the Bahrain News Agency. Other reports say Rice is expected "this month" or "in early 2007."
She last met with Olmert and Abbas during a visit to the region in November, during which she helped prepare them to meet with each other as part of the U.S. effort to get its Road Map plan back on track.
The two men met Saturday night, December 23, as a way of jump-starting stalled negotiations between Israel and the PA in advance of Rice’s planned visit to the region.
Concessions made by Israel at the meeting included transferring some $100 million in frozen tax revenues to the PA, easing of travel restrictions and increasing work permits for PA Arabs who wish to enter the pre-1967 areas of Israel.
There were no apparent concessions offered by Abbas, other than to reiterate his full support of the November 26th ceasefire between Israel and the PA, which has thus far been violated more than 70 times by Arab terrorists.
The terms of the ceasefire agreement on paper stipulate that PA terrorists would end rocket attacks fired from northern Gaza at western Negev Jewish communities, and Israel would refrain from carrying out a military response to such attacks.
Israeli impatience with the constant ceasefire violations grew after two young teenage boys were severely wounded in a Kassam rocket attack on the besieged community of Sderot some 72 hours after his meeting with Abbas. A successful rocket attack on a strategic location in the southern port city of Ashkelon during the same period only served to exacerbate an already tense situation.
“A directive has been given to the defense establishment to take pinpoint action against rocket-launching squads,” said Olmert in a statement by his office. “Israel will continue to maintain the ceasefire and work with the PA so that immediate steps are taken to halt the Kassam firings.”
Since then, ten rockets were fired on Friday, one on Saturday, and, according to some reports, one today.
While Olmert was struggling with this news, Abbas found himself in even greater difficulties on his side of the security fence. The embattled PA chairman is struggling with increasing internecine violence, and in addition, he is liable not to be his Fatah faction’s chosen candidate in the early elections he himself has called.
In a desperate effort to re-establish an atmosphere of optimistic cooperation, Abbas proposed the idea of quiet, “away from the media” negotiations with Olmert.
The PA chairman told reporters after his meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last week, “We have proposed the idea of back channel talks… and with the participation of members of the Quartet (U.S., Russia, United Nations and European Union)… with the aim of discussing the final phase.”
Abbas made it clear that he and Olmert had reached a standstill in their talks and that direct participation by the Bush administration was required. “I think that when Rice is here it will be the time to talk about this issue seriously,” he said.
It is also believed that the release of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit will be coordinated during the upcoming visit. The Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in a raid on an army outpost near Gaza last June.
Olmert is scheduled to meet with Mubarak this Thursday in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in advance of Rice’s visit to the region. Olmert and Mubarak are expected to discuss the talks each of them held with Abbas in the past two weeks, as well as the latest proposal for a prisoner swap deal to secure Shalit’s freedom. Hamas continues to demand the release of between 1,300 and 1,400 terrorists imprisoned in Israel - though Haaretz reports that Hamas has agreed to a much lower figure.
She last met with Olmert and Abbas during a visit to the region in November, during which she helped prepare them to meet with each other as part of the U.S. effort to get its Road Map plan back on track.
The two men met Saturday night, December 23, as a way of jump-starting stalled negotiations between Israel and the PA in advance of Rice’s planned visit to the region.
Concessions made by Israel at the meeting included transferring some $100 million in frozen tax revenues to the PA, easing of travel restrictions and increasing work permits for PA Arabs who wish to enter the pre-1967 areas of Israel.
There were no apparent concessions offered by Abbas, other than to reiterate his full support of the November 26th ceasefire between Israel and the PA, which has thus far been violated more than 70 times by Arab terrorists.
The terms of the ceasefire agreement on paper stipulate that PA terrorists would end rocket attacks fired from northern Gaza at western Negev Jewish communities, and Israel would refrain from carrying out a military response to such attacks.
Israeli impatience with the constant ceasefire violations grew after two young teenage boys were severely wounded in a Kassam rocket attack on the besieged community of Sderot some 72 hours after his meeting with Abbas. A successful rocket attack on a strategic location in the southern port city of Ashkelon during the same period only served to exacerbate an already tense situation.
“A directive has been given to the defense establishment to take pinpoint action against rocket-launching squads,” said Olmert in a statement by his office. “Israel will continue to maintain the ceasefire and work with the PA so that immediate steps are taken to halt the Kassam firings.”
Since then, ten rockets were fired on Friday, one on Saturday, and, according to some reports, one today.
While Olmert was struggling with this news, Abbas found himself in even greater difficulties on his side of the security fence. The embattled PA chairman is struggling with increasing internecine violence, and in addition, he is liable not to be his Fatah faction’s chosen candidate in the early elections he himself has called.
In a desperate effort to re-establish an atmosphere of optimistic cooperation, Abbas proposed the idea of quiet, “away from the media” negotiations with Olmert.
The PA chairman told reporters after his meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last week, “We have proposed the idea of back channel talks… and with the participation of members of the Quartet (U.S., Russia, United Nations and European Union)… with the aim of discussing the final phase.”
Abbas made it clear that he and Olmert had reached a standstill in their talks and that direct participation by the Bush administration was required. “I think that when Rice is here it will be the time to talk about this issue seriously,” he said.
It is also believed that the release of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit will be coordinated during the upcoming visit. The Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in a raid on an army outpost near Gaza last June.
Olmert is scheduled to meet with Mubarak this Thursday in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in advance of Rice’s visit to the region. Olmert and Mubarak are expected to discuss the talks each of them held with Abbas in the past two weeks, as well as the latest proposal for a prisoner swap deal to secure Shalit’s freedom. Hamas continues to demand the release of between 1,300 and 1,400 terrorists imprisoned in Israel - though Haaretz reports that Hamas has agreed to a much lower figure.