Livni, Abbas to Meet in Switzerland

President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, center, arrives at a hotel in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday Jan. 24, 2007. World political and economic leaders focused Wednesday on the threat of global warming and the perennial problem of tensions in the Middle East as they gathered for a five-day brain-storming session in Davos. Abbas is scheduled to attend the forum on Thursday. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) (Michel Euler - AP)

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet Thursday on the sidelines of a high-profile conference in Switzerland to explore ways to resume long-stalled peacemaking, an Abbas aide said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev confirmed the two would meet but did not specify when.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, who is in Davos with Abbas, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the Palestinian president would meet with Livni in an effort to push forward recent efforts to get negotiations back on track.

Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met last month to discuss confidence-building measures that would allow the sides to get back to the negotiating table, abandoned more than six years ago.

The two are going to try to push that process forward further next month in a three-way summit with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The date and venue for that session have not yet been set.