Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas began a summit to discuss ways to restart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace track on Monday morning.

The summit started with a work meeting between the three in Jerusalem, and will be followed by a lunch meeting, in which Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres will participate.

The summit is expected to last for more than three hours and Rice will give a statement to the press at the end of the event.

The discussions are expected to focus on ways to revive the Middle East peace process, while Israel will demand that a future Palestinian government recognize Israel and release a soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants last June.

The summit was overshadowed by an agreement signed between mainstream Palestinian movements of Hamas and Fatah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 8 under which Palestinians will form a new power-sharing government in a bid to end sanctions led by the United States.

But Olmert said on Sunday that the United States and Israel would shun any Palestinian government that does not meet three demands set forth by the Quartet on the Middle East -- recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and accepting existing peace accords.

In an interview with the Israeli Ha'aretz daily on Sunday, Rice lowered expectations for Monday's trilateral summit by saying that "what I would consider a success tomorrow is that we have gotten started."

Source: Xinhua