By DPA
Ramallah : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that she hoped Israel and the Palestinians would be able to reach a peace agreement within the remaining time of the administration of US President George W. Bush.
“I am very pleased that we now seem to move toward an understanding that Annapolis can indeed be a launching pad toward serious and sustained negotiations,” she told a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
Countering statements by other Palestinian officials, Abbas said the sides did make progress in their negotiations ahead of the international meeting due in Annapolis, Maryland, later this or early next month.
He also said that he was encouraged by the words of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who told a forum in Jerusalem late Sunday that after Annapolis, he would enter into “vigorous, ongoing and continuing negotiations” and that there was a chance for real accomplishments perhaps even before the end of President Bush’s term in office.
Bush’s term in office ends on January 20, 2009.
“This is indeed a historic time. It’s a time of historic opportunity,” Rice said, adding that the conference would be held around the end of the year.
Amid the difficult preparations, the conference was initially expected to take place in mid-November, and then Nov 26.