Source:
(Reuters)Scant details as Rice lobbies for Mideast meeting
Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:33AM EDT
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A goal of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Middle East trip this week is to win Arab support for a proposed conference on Israeli-Palestinian peace moves, but details for that meeting are scant.
U.S. President George W. Bush announced the meeting would take place before the end of this year as part of what the White House said was a big new initiative to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Rice will be in Egypt and Saudi Arabia with Defense Secretary Robert Gates where stabilizing Iraq is a key topic but she will also be pushing for commitment to attend a meeting she says is aimed at promoting a two-state solution for the Israelis and the Palestinians.
"They (Arab nations) were expecting a bigger initiative," said Middle East expert Shibley Telhami, a professor at the University of Maryland. "No one knows who will attend or what will be on the agenda."
Read more:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2943567520070729