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Rice due here [Israel] to push Annapolis process
Jerusalem Post ^ | 8-24-08 | HERB KEINON

Posted on 08/24/2008 6:31:58 AM PDT by SJackson

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to arrive on Monday in another attempt to advance the Annapolis process and produce some kind of Israeli-Palestinian document before the end of the year.

Slideshow: Pictures of the week Israeli diplomatic officials said Saturday night that if Rice was trying to get the Israelis and Palestinians to agree on a document to be presented at the United National General Assembly in mid-September spelling out what the sides had already agreed upon, she would be unlikely to find an ally in Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Rice is scheduled to meet with Livni on Tuesday morning.

According to the officials, Livni is keen on getting Rice to ditch the idea at the present time, concerned that such a document might complicate her Kadima Party primary race as it would likely highlight concessions Israel would be willing to make on land, and might indicate that talks on Jerusalem have been taking place.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the officials said, was not opposed to such a document coming out at this time, though he still believed that it was possible to reach a more comprehensive agreement with the Palestinian Authority this year, with the issue of Jerusalem pushed off to a latter date.

US diplomatic officials denied that Rice was trying to produce some kind of document now to bring to the UN General Assembly meeting on September 18.

Israeli officials, however, said the General Assembly would be a perfect platform for presenting such a document, and would also be a convenient location because the Middle East Quartet - made up of the US, Russia, the EU and the UN - was scheduled to meet on the sidelines to discuss the diplomatic process.

Israeli diplomatic officials said there had been no indication that the composition of the Quartet would change, despite the tensions between the US and EU with Russia over the Georgian situation. One of the issues that was originally expected to be discussed at the September Quartet meeting was an international meeting on the Middle East in Moscow, as a follow-up to last November's Annapolis Conference.

Rice, who was last in Israel in June and has been here more than 20 times during her tenure as secretary of state, is scheduled to have a dinner meeting on Monday evening with Defense Minister Ehud Barak at his Tel Aviv residence.

On Tuesday morning she is set to meet Olmert for breakfast, followed by a meeting with Livni. Israeli officials said that chief PA negotiator Ahmed Qurei would likely take part in that session as well.

Rice is then scheduled to go to Ramallah for talks with the PA's President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad. She is set to leave later that day.

Israeli diplomatic officials said that while the Russian-Georgian crisis, and Syria's interest in taking advantage of the situation to acquire advanced Russian missile systems, were likely to be discussed during the visit, Rice's focus would remain on the Annapolis process.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: condirice; middleeast; roadmap

1 posted on 08/24/2008 6:31:59 AM PDT by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

I'm glad to see Condi working hard to get the cornerstone of US foreign policy before the UN before Israeli elections. With nothing else going on the world, it gives her something important to work on.

2 posted on 08/24/2008 6:39:00 AM PDT by SJackson (as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station, Michelle O)
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To: SJackson; Yehuda; dennisw; sheik yerbouty; Lijahsbubbe
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to arrive on Monday in another attempt to advance the Annapolis process and produce some kind of Israeli-Palestinian document before the end of the year.

How about something a little more durable:


3 posted on 08/24/2008 7:00:45 AM PDT by Ezekiel (Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.)
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To: SJackson

Rice has been converted by the entrenched liberals at the State Department. She has lost her moral compass and decided that intra-department harmony is more important than doing what’s right.
When need John Bolton as Sec. of State, with the primary objective of cleaning house in the top two tiers of management there.


4 posted on 08/24/2008 7:34:51 AM PDT by G Larry (I'm investing in "Pitchfork Futures"!!)
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To: SJackson
Well its nice to see that Condi "Clueless" at the behest of George ("I want a legacy at any price") have not changed their m.o.--let's pressure Israel in making any concession necessary (even at the peril of their existence) and let's overlook any terrorist activities by those who have sworn to wipe Israel off the map and have shown their willingness to do so: the PA and Fatah.

Of course with the possibility of Olmert resigning (I'll believe it when I see this traitorous, moozi-loving, scumbag gone) their is a sense of urgency in the air for all parties (that is those who wish to appease and become dhimmis to the Islamofacist) to ink some sort of "deal."

5 posted on 08/24/2008 8:12:00 AM PDT by Conservative Vermont Vet ((One of ONLY 37 Conservatives in the People's Republic of Vermont. Socialists and Progressives All))
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To: SJackson
Hope she doesn't screw traffic up aroung the King David. I have to return a car there on Tuesday.

ML/NJ

6 posted on 08/24/2008 9:08:41 AM PDT by ml/nj
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To: ml/nj
If you see, say hello, that's where our folks stay.

Maybe mention that since Olmert is soon out of a job, that Livni has indicated she won't be held to an agreement, as has the Knesset, as has the Likud opposition, it might make more sense to spend some diplomatic effort on one of the minor problems we face. Like Russia or Pakistan.

7 posted on 08/24/2008 11:09:40 AM PDT by SJackson (as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station, Michelle O)
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To: SJackson

She wants to putsch the process..


8 posted on 08/24/2008 1:50:50 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: SJackson
[King David] that's where our folks stay.

Actually I stay at Lev Yerushalayim. But I give back my car when I get to Jerusalem, and the rental place is next to the King David Hotel.

ML/NJ

9 posted on 08/25/2008 1:11:54 AM PDT by ml/nj
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