A highly-placed source in the bureau of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has said that Monday's summit between Abbas, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is unlikely to produce significant results.

The official also said that the agenda for the summit has not yet been set.

The U.S. has been trying to lower expectations regarding the summit, he said.

	Advertisement

"We believe Rice will propose some sort of mechanism for holding talks between Israel and the PA and nothing else," the source said.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, however, said the PA will ask for clarifications regarding Israeli and American negotiating goals vis-a-vis the Palestinians.

"We want to understand the possibilities, what the goal is and how it can be reached," Erekat told Haaretz.

Erekat said Rice and Abbas are expected to address Monday's agenda when they meet on Sunday in Ramallah.

Abbas on Saturday met with Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch in Ramallah and told him the world would have to learn to live with a Fatah-Hamas coalition government, according to Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rudeineh. The chairman also told Welch that the factions' agreement in Mecca was the only way to end the crisis among the Palestinians, and that he hoped it would end the infighting.

After the meeting, Erekat quoted Welch as saying the U.S. administration would be judging the new PA unity government "according to its commitment to the Quartet's conditions," implying that Washington would not cooperate with a government that does not recognize Israel.

Palestinian sources added that Welch said the U.S. was reserving judgment on the new government until it officially takes office and sets its foreign policy.

PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas has begun meeting with party representatives regarding the formation of the unity government.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, both of which are on the left of the Palestinian political spectrum, on Saturday criticized the Mecca agreement as not guaranteeing appropriate representation for their organizations.

Meanwhile, shots were fired late Friday night at the Nablus home of PA Planning Minister Samir Abu Eisha, who is identified with Hamas.

No one was injured, but a few windows were broken. No organization has claimed responsibility for the incident, which comes after several days of little little violence between Hamas and Fatah.