ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Israel expects next week's summit meeting to consider a "diplomatic horizon" with the Palestinians, not to start negotiations over a permanent settlement.
The meeting, expected Monday in a Jerusalem hotel, is due to bring together U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Palestinians have been urging negotiations over the permanent settlement that should resolve all the issues, including borders, settlements, the status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugee issue.
Olmert, however, reiterated Thursday that the sides should strictly follow the internationally devised "road map" for peace that talks of a staged process. According to Israeli officials, that process has not even begun.
He anticipated talks probing the "horizons" but "there is no alternative to the road map and to the Quartet's conditions," he told reporters who accompanied him on a 30-hour visit to Ankara.
The Quartet -- comprising the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- has been demanding the Palestinians cease violence, accept Israel and the agreements the Palestinians have concluded with it, including acceptance of the "road map."
The incumbent Hamas-led government has rejected the Quartet's demands and the international community has been boycotting it.
Last week Hamas leaders Khaled Mishaal, Prime Minister Ismail Hanieyeh and Abbas, who heads the Fatah Party, agreed in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to form a national unity government. The deal is not yet done as many issues, including some of the portfolios, still have to be resolved.
Olmert said he expected to discuss those developments with Rice and Abbas and indicated the agreements reached in Mecca should not prevent meeting Abbas.
Abbas was elected directly by the people, he said, alluding to the 2005 presidential elections. He does not draw his authority "from this or that agreement," Olmert added.
