Rice, Abbas call for greater peace efforts
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - March 4, 2008 "I call on the Israeli government to halt its aggression so the
necessary environment can be created to make negotiations succeed,
for us and for them, to reach the shores of peace in 2008," Abbas
said. He was referring to the goal - stated at a U.S.-sponsored
Mideast peace conference in November - of reaching an
Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty by the end of the year.
Abbas made his comments in a joint news conference with Rice,
who also was holding talks Tuesday with Israeli leaders.
Abbas' public comments were a disappointment for the United
States, which had hoped for a firmer commitment to renew
negotiations launched by the Bush administration at a conference in
Annapolis, Md. Rice looked on, lips pursed, as Abbas called
Israel's action unjustified "under any pretext."
In Washington, President Bush said Tuesday that he remains
optimistic there will be a Mideast deal by the end of his
presidency.
After a meeting at the White House with Jordan's King Abdullah
II, Bush said, "This is a process that always two steps forward
and one step back. We just need to make sure that it's just one
step back." He noted that Rice was pushing the Israeli and
Palestinian leadership to resume talks.
Rice said that Israel must have the right to defend itself, but
added that she will make the case to Israelis that they should make
"a very strong effort to spare innocent life" in Gaza.
Earlier, she said that walking away from talks plays into the
hands of militants, and Rice blamed Palestinian Hamas radicals for
provoking an Israeli military onslaught in the Gaza Strip. The
campaign has derailed an already troubled U.S-backed drive for
peace terms this year.
"Negotiations are going to have to be able to withstand the
efforts of rejectionists to upset them, to create chaos and
violence, so that people react by deciding not to negotiate, "
Rice said in Egypt at the start of two days of efforts to rescue
negotiations. "That's the game of those who don't want to see a
Palestinian state established."
At the White House, press secretary Dana Perino said that Abbas'
comments "were encouraging," though he didn't say he was ready to
resume peace talks.
"Obviously there's a lot of tension right now between Israelis
and the Palestinians," ¼ said. "We fully recognize that.
Secretary Rice is in the region to help them bridge back
together."
Perino continued to blame Hamas for inciting the bloodshed.
"Unfortunately, so many innocent people are caught up in the
violence," she said. "And one of the reactions of the violence is
to close in and to decide not to talk. But I think what President
Abbas said today to Secretary Rice was that he is willing to try to
reach out again, but that Israel has to meet him halfway."
The moderate, U.S.-backed Palestinian leadership in the West
Bank suspended peace talks in protest after an Israeli military
offensive that killed more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza. That made
restoring two-way talks Rice's chief objective for a trip she had
planned to check up on the negotiators' progress.
Israel launched the offensive to stop rocket attacks by the
Hamas militant groups on nearby Israeli cities, but the assault
prompted Abbas to suspend negotiations. Israeli aircraft sent more
missiles crashing into Gaza on Tuesday after more rockets were
fired on the southern town of Sderot.
"The people who are firing rockets do not want peace," Rice
told reporters in Cairo. "They sow instability, that is what Hamas
is doing."
Rice backed Israel's right to respond to the rocket fire, but
said it must avoid causing civilian casualties.
"The rocket attacks against innocent Israelis in their cities
need to stop. This can't go on. No Israeli government can tolerate
that," she said. But the Israelis "need to be aware of the
effects of these operations on innocent people."
She said Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip last July, is
armed "in part" by Iran and underlined the need for the United
States and the West to train and develop the Palestinian security
forces loyal to Abbas, whose government controls the West Bank.
"Hamas gets armed by the Iranians and if nobody helps to
improve the security capabilities of the legitimate Palestinian
Authority security forces. That's not a very good situation," she
said at a news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed
Aboul Gheit.
Rice said she still thinks the two sides can reach a deal for
Palestinian statehood this year.
"I do think that negotiations ought to resume as soon as
possible," Rice told reporters Monday on her way to the Middle
East. "I understand that the situation has been complicated. But
the longer the negotiations are not ongoing or the longer that they
are suspended, if that's what one wants to call it, the more it is
a victory for those who don't want to see a two-state solution."
Rice declined to call for a cease-fire, which many Israelis
think would legitimize Hamas and its hold in Gaza. The
Mediterranean coastal strip is the smaller, poorer of two Arab
tracts that would form an independent Palestinian state alongside
Israel.
Gheit, whose country has sought to isolate Hamas, also stopped
short of calling for a cease-fire. He said Egypt was seeking to
convince Israel "not to resort to excessive use of force.... The
imbalance of power (between Hamas and the Israelis) must be taken
into account." He said Egypt also urges the Palestinians to halt
rocket fire.
Israel said it wants to continue negotiations, but suggested it
also may launch a full-scale re-invasion of the Gaza territory it
abandoned three years ago.
---
On the Net:
State Department: http://www.state.gov