U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet and dine with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas here Thursday evening to demonstrate U.S. continued support for the Middle East peace process, the State Department said.
"The secretary has committed to continue to work on this process" until President-elect Barack Obama and his team take over on Jan. 20, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
Rice's meeting with Abbas occurs one day before U.S. President George W. Bush meets the Palestinian leader.
It was generally believed that the scheduled summit will be a farewell one, during which the two leaders are expected to discuss the status of Middle East peace efforts since Israeli-Palestinian talks were relaunched at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007.
Bush wants to discuss shared efforts with Abbas "including progress in building capable Palestinian institutions, fostering economic development, and training and deploying Palestinian security forces in the West Bank," according to White House officials.
In November 2007, Bush convened a summit of Palestinian Authorities and Israeli leaders in Annapolis to launch a new round of peace talks.
However, the White House announced early last month that there will be no Middle East peace pact on President Bush's watch due to disagreements on the most divisive issues and escalating violence in the region.
It was reported earlier that Abbas will fly on to Moscow on December 22 for talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Source:Xinhua
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