National

Rice, Abbas Meet Ahead of Talks with Olmert

By Liane Hansen, Linda Gradstein

Published February 18, 2007 at 5:00 AM PST

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of Monday's three-way meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Rice's goal: explore a new path to peace.

Rice is attempting to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Her visit is being overshadowed by battles over a new Palestinian unity government and whether it will meet international conditions for recognition. Later today, Rice will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

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Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.

Linda Gradstein

Linda Gradstein has been the Israel correspondent for NPR since 1990. She is a member of the team that received the Overseas Press Club award for her coverage of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the team that received Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism for her coverage of the Gulf War. Linda spent 1998-9 as a Knight Journalist Fellow at Stanford University.