The US said today it was "very pleased" with an announcement that Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres would meet this week.
The State Department said it was hopeful that the meeting, to take place tomorrow after many delays and postponements, would be a step toward bringing the two sides back to peace talks but also help US efforts to build an international coalition to fight terrorism.
"I would like to say we're very pleased that the Israelis and Palestinians have announced agreement to meet at the level of Foreign Minister Peres and Chairman Arafat," spokesman Mr Richard Boucher said.
"This is an important step which we hope will contribute significantly to reinforcing efforts to halt the violence and build a substantive political dialogue," he said.
The primary goal of the Arafat-Peres meeting is to secure a ceasefire and move toward resuming political negotiations but Mr Boucher said Washington also believed it could boost support for the anti-terror coalition the United States is building to respond to the September 11th attacks.
"It does contribute towards solidifying the coalition and to making the point that the United States is not against Muslims, that this fight against terrorism is not a fight against the Muslim world," he said.
AFP