Rice Calls for ‘Common Agenda’

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met separately with Palestinian and Israeli leaders Sunday and called on both sides to reach a common agenda.

Rice spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah before heading to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem, the BBC reported.

I think that it is extremely important that there be a political horizon for the Palestinian people, she said. And I sincerely hope that in the future the parties themselves can talk about that political horizon among themselves.

Rice called on Arab and Western states to adopt a bilateral approach on establishing a Palestinian state.

She met Saturday with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after she arrived in Cairo.

The meeting preceded the Arab League summit scheduled to begin Tuesday in Saudi Arabia.