Washington - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, yesterday at the start of a new attempt to get Middle East peace talks back on track. After meeting Ms Albright at the State Department, the Palestinian negotiator, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, planned to hold talks with the US Middle East envoy, Mr Dennis Ross.
The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, has said in the past week he believes the talks are a "waste of time" because of differences over the agenda. Mr Levy said he was "very distressed to hear such comments".
