Rice Makes The Rounds In The Mideast
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Jerusalem on Thursday for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expected to focus on reviving long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Her visit to Jerusalem followed a meeting in the West Bank town of Jericho with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. After that meeting, Rice expressed support for the creation of a "viable and contiguous" Palestinian state.
Rice is hoping to build on an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire that began in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, reports . The U.S. sees this a window of opportunity to revive peace talks, that collapsed after the election of the Islamic militant group Hamas in January. America's key Arab allies, including Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are pushing the U.S. to take a more active role in the peace process, hoping that this will help calm the situation in Iraq.
In other developments:
Before the meeting, an Abbas confidant said he believed the cease-fire and a conciliatory speech by Olmert earlier this week have created new momentum.
"I think it's up to us and the Israelis to make it work," said Erekat. "It can work. The opportunity is there."
However, the truce, the latest attempt to halt six years of fighting, could quickly collapse. And two key ingredients for a resumption of peace talks are missing — a moderate Palestinian government in place of the one led by the militantly anti-Israel Hamas, and an Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap that would free an Israeli soldier held since June.
Rice was in the region accompanying President Bush, who was in Jordan for talks with the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
In the Jordanian capital, Amman, on Thursday, Mr. Bush appealed for support for Abbas, referring to him by his commonly-used name, Abu Mazen.
"Abu Mazen, who I believe wants there to be a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel, deserves the support of the world. And he deserves support in peeling his government away from those who do not recognize Israel's right to exist," Mr. Bush said at a news conference with al-Maliki.
Israeli officials said Olmert would emphasize to Rice that pressure must be maintained on the Palestinian leadership to continue isolating Hamas and press for the formation of a Palestinian government that recognizes Israel, renounces violence and accepts previous peace accords, as the international community has demanded.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas said he didn't think the meeting would help the Palestinian cause.
"Our experience with these meetings and these visits are that they justify more Israeli aggression against our people," Zahar said at a news conference before the Rice-Abbas talks began.
Abbas, leader of the rival Fatah party, planned to update Rice on his efforts to set up a government acceptable to the West and Israel. Hamas' support of terrorism and refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist prompted the United States, Israel and other nations to impose crushing economic sanctions.
Abbas aims to form a coalition of independent administrators who have ties to Hamas or Abbas' Fatah movement, but are not leading members.
After three months of stop-and-go bargaining, negotiations broke down again last week over Hamas' insistence that it control the key Interior and Finance ministries. Abbas said the ministries must be filled by true independents if the world is to recognize such a government.
Abbas' top aide, Rafiq Husseini, said coalition talks are on hold until Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas returns in January from a tour of the Arab world and Iran. Husseini said it would be difficult to revive peace talks with Israel without forming a new government first.
Abbas was also to brief Rice on his efforts to strengthen the truce along the Israel-Gaza border, which took hold Sunday.
The Palestinians hope to expand the cease-fire to the West Bank, and have urged Israel to halt arrest raids there. Abbas was to ask Rice to make such an appeal in her meeting with Olmert later Thursday.
A senior U.S. State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, said the United States would like to see the truce extend to the West Bank.
Militants in Gaza have threatened to resume rocket attacks on Israel if Israeli raids in the West Bank continue.
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met with Israeli leaders on Wednesday in an effort to resolve another dispute blocking renewed peacemaking, the prisoner release.
A senior Israeli official said the meetings didn't bring Cpl. Gilad Shalit any closer to freedom, but an Israeli Cabinet minister said Suleiman told Israel the soldier could be released next month.
"Within three weeks, he (Suleiman) believes Gilad will be home," Cabinet Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel's Army Radio after meeting with the Egyptian official.
Rice travels to Jericho and Jerusalem hoping that positive momentum there would help the U.S. as it tries to wind down its presence in Iraq. Arab states want Washington to make progress on what they say is the Middle East's priority — settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Peace efforts have been frozen for six years, since the latest Palestinian uprising erupted. The "road map" peace plan, presented by President Bush in 2003, faltered after neither side carried out its initial obligations.
While most foreign policy experts and U.S. officials say the war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are inextricably linked, the State Department official said the United States is not approaching them as a package deal.
"We think these things ought to move ahead independently. If they moved ahead in tandem, that's always welcome as well," the official said. "But we're trying to achieve progress on all these issues not trading them off on each other."