By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening and the two decided to meet again on Thursday.
David Baker, a spokesman for Olmert told Xinhua that the two “had a very good discussion” in the meeting and “they decided to meet again tomorrow”.
He didn’t give more details about the Wednesday evening talks and specify the time of Thursday meeting. Rice arrived in Israel on Wednesday noon, starting her 24-hourvisit to the region.
Earlier on the day, Rice met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
On Thursday morning, Rice was scheduled to meet with Israeli President Shimon Peres and then travel to the West Bank city of Ramallah for meetings with the Palestinian leadership, before leaving Israel in the afternoon.
Rice’s visit aims at laying ground works for a U.S. sponsored international summit on Middle East peace.
En route to Israel, Rice said earlier Wednesday that “critical issues” would be tackled at the conference due to be held in November, calling on Israelis and Palestinians to do more to bridge their differences.