Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, meeting Foreign Minister night ahead of the Tuesday opening of the UN General Assembly's ministerial meeting, promised to "exert maximum effort" to secure the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Both Livni and Abbas described the nearly 90-minute meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, the first in four months between Palestinian and Israeli officials, as positive.

"It was a very, very positive meeting with Mrs. Livni. We talked (about)
ev

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everything," Abbas told reporters after Monday's talks.

"The meeting was very good, important and constructive," said Livni. "We
discussed the situation on the ground, in the Palestinian Authority, what we are facing ... what are the next steps. Firstly, and the most important issue for Israel is the unconditional release of Gilad Shalit, the first abducted soldier." She gave no details.

Shalit was kidnapped on June 25 outside the Gaza Strip by Palestinian
militants, sparking a military offensive against Gaza.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters that Abbas told Livni the Palestinians are "committed to exert maximum effort to close this chapter (Shalit's release) along with the total cessation of violence by the two sides."

In the broadcast interview, Livni took a stern view of the Hamas-led Palestinian government, saying that it was bringing Israelis and Palestinians back 60 years. Palestinian Authority sources had said that Abbas would tell Livni that Israel must welcome the new PA unity government, which would be bound to previously signed agreements and would promote the peace process.

Erekat said that in his talks with Livni, Abbas also urged the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including parliament deputies and cabinet ministers in the Hamas-led government which refuses to recognize Israel's existence.

Erekat added that the Monday talks also focused on ways to revive the stalled Mideast road map to peace. It aimed to establish a Palestinian state by 2005, but Israel and the Palestinians have failed to carry out the parallel steps in the peace plan and it has languished.

Abbas and Livni also discussed reopening the dialogue between Israeli and
Palestinian officials, including a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as soon as possible, Erekat said.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after talks with Livni in New York earlier Monday that there no was link between American policy on Iran and its policy on the Palestinians.

A senior adviser to Rice, however, said Friday that the U.S. is making a connection between efforts to block Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and progress in the diploatic front between Israel and the Arab world - especially along the Palestinian track.