Rice, Olmert, Abbas

      United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived Wednesday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Secretary Rice is hoping to achieve substantive results towards solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the U.S. sponsored conference in November. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders, however, disagree on the language of a pre-conference agreement on intent: Olmert aims for general content, while Abbas wants more specific language on the thorniest issues. Rice reportedly had to scrap plans to meet both men together, and now will meet each one separately. Back in Washington, the Bush administration is hoping that Saudi Arabia will participate in the November conference to give the event the added prestige of broader Arab support. But at a hearing in Congress, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommttee on the Middle East and South Asia, Gary Ackerman, spoke out against a proposed multi-billion dollar weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. Ackerman, known as a staunch supporter of Israel, was here a few weeks ago on a solidarity visit.(19,24)