Palestinian President committed during a meeting on Monday with Israel's foreign minister to make "maximum efforts" to help free an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants.
UNITED NATIONS: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas committed during a meeting on Monday with Israel's foreign minister to make "maximum efforts" to help free an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants, a top official said.
But Abbas was also warned by Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that if he joins a national unity government with the Hamas group, it must recognise Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and acknowledge past agreements.
The meeting at the UN headquarters between Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was the first between them for five months. Abbas earlier held talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Abbas called it a "very, very positive meeting. We talked a lot about everything" while Livni said the encounter had been "a very good, important and constructive meeting."
Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian lawmaker and close associate of the Palestinian leader, said Abbas had "committed to making the maximum efforts to close this chapter (the Israeli soldier) along with the cessation of violence by the two sides".
Livni said "firstly, and the most important issue for Israel is the unconditional release of Shalit."
On June 25, Palestinian militants launched a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip in which two Israeli soldiers were killed and a third, 19-year-old Corporal Gilad Shalit, was captured.
His seizure sparked a massive Israeli military offensive into Gaza, with the aim of retrieving him and also stopping militants firing rockets into Israel.
Israel's contacts with the Palestinian leadership have since been virtually frozen. And talk of Abbas' Fatah faction joining a new government with Hamas has raised new western fears over the Middle East peace process.
Livni said the "road map" to Middle East process and ways to promote the peace process had been discussed.
But she said she had emphasized "from the Israeli perspective, the need for any future Palestinian government to meet completely the three requirements of the international community."
After Hamas won the Palestinian election in January, the diplomatic Quartet -- the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations -- which drew up the "road map" demanded that the Palestinian government acknowledge Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and recognise past agreements with the Jewish state.
Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the United States because of its armed conflict with Israel.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}