Rice meets Palestinian PM on Israeli pullout

Visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei Saturday on the anticipated Israeli pullout from Gaza, a senior Palestinian official said.

Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan al-Khatib, who attended the meeting, told reporters that their talks focused on efforts to make the Israeli withdrawal from all Gaza and northern West Bank succeed.

Al-Khatib said Qurei urged Rice to "exert pressure on Israel to stop settlement expansions and stop carrying out unilateral steps and actions in Jerusalem."

Qurei asked Rice to pressure Israel for more cooperation and coordination "to alleviate the daily hardship of the Palestinian people and end unemployment," he said.

The Palestinian side also asked Rice to help "in order to make the Israeli withdrawal from the northern West Bank town of Jenin complete, and not only evacuating four settlements in northern West Bank," Al-Khatib added.

"Rice has promised to work side-by-side with Israel to guarantee the success of the disengagement plan," said al-Khatib.

Rice arrived in Ramallah Saturday morning and held a series of meetings with PNA officials, including Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Qurei, Foreign Minister Nasser al-Qedwa and Finance Minister Salam Fayad.

The top US diplomat began a Mideast tour on Saturday to boost coordination between the Palestinians and Israel over the Israeli withdrawal from all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank due in mid-August.

After meeting with Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Rice will head on to Jerusalem for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua