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WORLD / Middle East
Rice to meet Abbas in search of conference accord
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-20 16:46
RAMALLAH - Condoleezza Rice travels from Israel to meet Palestinian
leaders on Thursday to try and break a logjam between the two sides
before Washington hosts a major Middle East peace conference.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (L) and Israel's President Shimon
Peres hold a joint news conference before their meeting in Jerusalem
September 20, 2007. [Reuters]?
The US secretary of state has found growing interest in "intensifying the
dialogue", a senior aide said, after she held talks with Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Rice, meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres before traveling to the West
Bank city of Ramallah, said she saw "a spirit and a desire to move
towards peace" among Israelis and Palestinians, but there were "many
obstacles to overcome".
All sides have given little away on the specifics of their talks and
details of the planned international gathering, expected to convene in
mid-November or early December in Washington, remain unclear.
"It could range from zero to a full-blown agreement. They are not in a
position yet to put a label on it," the senior State Department official
told reporters when asked how Rice could reconcile seemingly
contradictory Israeli and Palestinian views of what the conference might
achieve.
"Labels are really not a very good way to capture what is going on," he
said, adding: "This appears to be a serious discussion about fundamental
issues."
Olmert, who will meet Rice again on Thursday after she has spoken with
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, has cautioned against
expecting more than a declaration of principles for establishing a
Palestinian state.
Abbas has made clear he wants a deal that goes beyond previous agreements
on the broad outlines of how the 60-year-old conflict can be resolved and
sets a framework for resolving core disputes on borders, security and the
status of Jerusalem and of Palestinian refugees from territory that is
now Israel.
"Enemy" Gaza
Rice may hear concerns from Abbas and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad,
over Israel's decision on Wednesday to declare the Gaza Strip an "enemy
entity", as well as about the pace of Israeli moves to ease movement for
people in the West Bank.
Fayyad's government has already said it wants Washington to press Israel
not to cut energy and other supplies to the 1.5 million people of Gaza,
despite hostility between the leaders in the West Bank and the Hamas
Islamists who seized power in the coastal enclave in June after routing
forces loyal to Abbas.
Rice, who US officials said was unaware of Israel's plan when she flew
in, said Washington shared Israeli opposition to Hamas but expected
humanitarian supplies to continue.
She also said the internal Palestinian conflict should not jeopardize
plans to found a single state in both the West Bank and Gaza.
The conference forms a major part of US President George W. Bush's
strategy to promote stability in the Middle East before he leaves office
in a little over a year, ending a presidency marked by the violence in
Iraq since 2003.
He has encouraged Arab states to attend but several have said they would
do so only if they saw it producing agreement on fundamental issues for
Palestinians. Also unclear is whether states regarded as hostile, notably
Syria, should be invited.
Highlighting uncertainty surrounding the nature of the gathering, when
asked whether Syria would be welcome Rice told a news conference simply:
"We haven't invited anyone yet."
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