ARAB AFFAIRS - Feb 19 - Middle East Talks End Without Progress.

A meeting that Israeli and Palestinian leaders with Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, matches its low expectations when they agree on little more substantial than a willingness to meet again. After talks with the Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, and the PA president Mahmoud Abbas, that lasted just over two hours, Ms Rice said the three affirmed their commitment to a two-state solution of the Middle East conflict. Ms Rice read a prepared statement in which she said the meeting had been useful and productive, but neither she nor her interlocutors offered any further comment on what had originally been billed as the forum for a possible breakthrough. Against the background of Abbas's deal to create a national unity government with the ruling Hamas party - regarded by Washington as a terrorist organisation - earlier hopes that the meeting would dramatically jump-start the stalled peace process had already faded. "You are seeing a lot of expectations managed by a lot of weak leaders", said a Palestinian official. "So, in that sense, everyone got what they wanted". The primary purpose of the accord between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah was to avert further conflict among their warring militias. Its second aim of persuading international donors to lift a ban on direct aid to the PA looks unlikely to be fulfilled in the short term. Monday's statement noted that the Middle East Quartet - the US, EU, UN and Russia - required any PA government to recognise Israel, commit itself to non-violence and accept previous agreements, including those relating to the Quartet's own "road map". Neither the US nor Israel believes the Mecca accord, in which Hamas agreed to "respect" existing agreements with Israel, went far enough. Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas PM who resigned along with his cabinet last week, has up to five weeks to form a government in which Fatah and independents will share power. Pointing to positive aspects of Feb 19 meeting, Palestinian officials noted that the Israeli government appeared ready to maintain its relations with Abbas despite his embrace of Hamas. He and Olmert are to meet again soon, the statement added. Some suggested this might allow for the emergence of a less high-profile negotiating track, which Abbas was known to prefer. Ms Rice said she would return to the region soon but gave no date for a further tripartite meeting. "That's a tool that everybody can pick up and use when everybody thinks it's useful to do it", Sean McCormack, state department spokesman, said.