US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem Saturday night, as part of the preparation for the three-way talks between Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, reported Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa. Rice said to reporters before the meeting, "The Quartet has of course reiterated the import of its principles, because they are foundational principles for peace", referring to the three demands of the Quartet - the international panel of the US, the EU, Russia and the UN brokering Middle East peace - that any Palestinian government must renounce violence, recognize Israel and adhere to all previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Rice however added that the US administration will wait for the completion of the formation of the new Palestinian government, which will take three to five weeks, to make a final decision on its stand. The Palestinians are currently in the process of forming a new national unity government based on a coalition which will include Abbas' Fatah, as well as the Islamic Hamas and smaller Palestinian factions.
