US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday an upcoming US-sponsored Middle East conference must be "substantive," and that Israel and the Palestinians must draft a document before the meeting that lays "foundations for serious negotiations."
The Palestinians want the conference, tentatively set for November, to yield an outline for a peace deal, complete with timetable, while Israel wants a more vague declaration of intent. Key Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia, have said they would only attend if concrete results were achieved.
Palestinian leaders pressed Rice about the goal of the conference.
The gathering "has to be substantive and advance the cause of a Palestinian state," Rice told a joint news conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Participants must not "simply meet for the sake of meeting," she said.
my curiosity is piqued, will this one indeed be different?
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