Condoleezza Rice AP PHOTO

The United States, which had pushed for the session, said it was an accomplishment merely to hold such a get-together for the first time in six years. After two hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Feb. 19 stood alone in a bare-bones hotel function room to call the session "useful and productive."

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 24, 2007
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