Rice, Erekat to meet

Condoleezza Rice will meet with Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat. The two will meet Friday morning, a day after Rice briefs Jewish organizational leaders about her plans for a Feb. 19 summit with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The summit already appears endangered: Mahmoud Abbas, the relatively moderate Palestinian Authority president, is meeting Thursday in Saudi Arabia with Khaled Meshaal, leader of the terrorist Hamas group, which controls the P.A. Cabinet and legislature, to discuss a national unity government. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said this week he would not deal with Abbas if a national unity government doesn’t recognize Israel and renounce terrorism, which Hamas refuses to do. The disagreements between Hamas and Fatah have devolved into violent clashes in the Gaza Strip.