UN attempts Mideast peace kickstart
The UN Security Council will hold a rare ministerial meeting at the request of Arab nations to discuss how to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN chief Kofi Annan and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will attend the meeting, although it’s unclear whether Israel will be represented.
Arab countries hope that the UN council will spell out new ways to implement the so-called “roadmap for peace”, in a bid to create an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.
But the roadmap, drafted by the Middle East Quartet the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations has made virtually no progress since its launch in 2003.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa noted that Thursday's council ministerial session is the first to be held at the request of the Arab group in "nearly 16 years".
The meeting comes a day after the Quartet voiced its strong support for a bid by Abbas to form a government with Hamas, even though the radical Islamic group still refuses to recognise Israeli's right to exist.
Emergency aid extended
The Quartet will also extend emergency aid for the Palestinian territories by another three months.
The territories are now ruled by a Hamas-led administration, but the US has voiced deep skepticism about the formation of a government joining Mr Abbas’ Fatah Party and Hamas.
However Ms Rice signed a Quartet statement that specifically
"welcomed the efforts of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to form a government of national unity" with the Islamic militants.
The statement appears to mark a softening of Washington's tough stance on Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organisation.
While President Bush has recommitted himself to US-backed efforts to create a Palestinian state, he made no public offers to end the international boycott of the Palestinian government led by Hamas militants.