Meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended Sunday afternoon without holding a press conference.

The meeting, which lasted for about two hours, was held at Abbas' headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah and was meant to prepare for a three-way meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday.

Ahead of the meeting, Rice, who arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday morning, told reporters that she would discuss recent Hamas-Fatah agreement in Mecca where rival factions agreed to form a national unity government.

She added that the agreement would be put on the table during the three-way summit.

The U.S. top diplomat did not elaborate the U.S. stance towards the deal which designated Ismail Haneya, the leader of Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), to form and lead the new government.

The summit was aimed at looking for rooms to resume stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians which has suspended since Hamas took office last March after winning last parliamentary elections.

The United States has been leading an international campaign to isolate the Hamas-led government that resigned on Feb. 15, pressing it to recognize Israel and previous peace deals.

Source: Xinhua