Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is planning to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the Obama administration engages in furious, last-minute diplomacy to prevent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks from collapsing this weekend.
The State Department says Clinton will see Abbas in New York on Friday night amid intense negotiations to keep alive direct peace talks that began just this month. The Palestinians have threatened to walk out of the talks if Israel does not extend a slowdown in West Bank settlement activity that expires on Sunday.
The department said that as U.S. officials press Israel to extend the slowdown, Clinton will be urging Abbas not to make good on his threat and leave the negotiations.