Visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet every two weeks, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on its website.

A senior Israeli official made clear, however, that substantive talks on statehood between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would not be on the agenda for now.

Other Israeli officials cited disagreements between Olmert and Rice over the scope of deliberations.

"The issues would be security, humanitarian and the political horizon," the senior official said, the latter term a loose reference to a US-backed vision of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

"Political horizon is not about specifics," the official said, appearing to rule out any discussion soon on core issues such as the future of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

On her fourth visit in four months, Rice tried to revive peace hopes dimmed last year by the establishment of a Hamas-led government and further complicated by the creation earlier this month of a unity administration with Abbas's Fatah faction.

The power-sharing partnership has not met demands by a Quartet of Middle East mediators to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace accords.

At a news conference postponed from Monday evening after discord with Olmert, Rice said the prime minister and Abbas "have agreed that they plan to meet together bi-weekly".

"We are not yet at final-status negotiations. These are initial discussions to build confidence," Rice said, ending her visit a day before Arab states open a summit in Riyadh where they intend to relaunch a 2002 plan for peace with Israel.

Olmert told reporters on Monday he would maintain constant contacts with Abbas, but did not say how frequently they would meet. The Israeli leader said after the unity government was inaugurated he would limit such talks to humanitarian issues.

His agreement to see Abbas regularly appeared to be a gesture to Washington, which is eager to show the Arab world and European allies that it is making efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Saeb Erekat, a senior adviser to Abbas, said Rice "managed to keep the door open between us and the Israelis which was closing rapidly in the past few days".

Rice said Abbas and Olmert would focus on security issues but also "begin to discuss the development of a political horizon consistent with the establishment of a Palestinian state in accordance with the 'road map'".

Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians have fulfilled their commitments under the US-backed plan, which calls for Israel to halt settlement building in the occupied West Bank and the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups.

In a renewed bid to bolster the moderate Abbas, the United States plans to provide US$59 million to strengthen security forces loyal to him and additional money to support any future elections, US documents showed.

(China Daily via agencies March 28, 2007)