Prime Miniser Ariel Sharon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ahead of their talks in Jerusalem on Sunday.
(AP)
Condoleezza Rice laying a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem on Sunday.
(Reuters)
Posted on 02/06/2005 12:53:43 PM PST by anotherview
Last Update: 06/02/2005 20:55
Rice urges Israel to avoid unilateral steps on J'lem
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent Haaretz Staff and Agencies
Prime Miniser Ariel Sharon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ahead of their talks in Jerusalem on Sunday.
Condoleezza Rice laying a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem on Sunday.
(AP)
(Reuters)
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and President Moshe Katsav, and urged them to maintain the status quo over Jerusalem, and avoid taking any unilateral steps on the disputed capital which could harm Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli sources said Rice was referring to the government's decision from last summer to apply the absentee property law to tens of thousands of dunams (acres) of Palestinian property in East Jerusalem. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz last week instructed Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order an immediate halt to the application of the law. The sources said Rice may also have been referring to the decision to build the separation fence in Jerusalem, and to expand Jewish neighborhoods in the city.
Rice said Sunday that the disengagement plan is an historic opportunity, and that the future security of Palestinians and Israelis will be ensured only by two states exisiting side by side.
In an interview with TV Channel 2 Rice emphasized the importance of direct contact between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, and minimum involvement of mediators such as the U.S.
When asked about the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the secretary of state said that while new demographic realities since 1967 must be taken into account, the parties must reach an agreement accommodating to the needs of them both.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who was the first Israeli official to meet with Rice on Sunday, told the secretary of state, "Israel will not relinquish its sovereignty over Jerusalem. The issue of Jerusalem will be left to the final status agreement, but we have to intention to harm the Palestinians."
Rice also said that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan must be implemented without delay, and carried out according to its timetable. She told Shalom that Abu Mazen [Abbas] was elected through democratic elections and he needs as much help as possible to give a firm basis to his leadership. Shalom responded that "the pain of the settlers [to be evacuated under the plan] must be understood and empathy must be shown. These people do not know where they will live or where they will work.
Rice arrived in Israel in an optimistic mood Sunday afternoon, as she prepared for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials two days before the first official Middle East summit since the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last November.
Her first stop was a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, where she laid a wreath inside the Hall of Remembrance.
She then met with Shalom, followed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. She is also due to meet President Moshe Katsav later Sunday.
Ahead of their meeting, Sharon said he was sure his talks with Rice would "contribute to the friendly relations between the two countries." Sharon said he also expected her visit to contribute to the peace process, "which we want to very much want to push forward in the region."
In response, Rice said U.S.-Israel relations were solid "because we share not just interests but values." She said her goal was to "try to advance the cause of peace and to overcome the scourge of terrorism."
Before meeting Shalom, Rice said, "we will ask of our partners and our friends in Israel that Israel continues to make the hard decisions that must be taken in order to promote peace and... the emergence of a democratic Palestinian state.
"This is a time of optimism because fundamental changes are underway in the Middle East as a whole," she added.
After their meeting, Shalom told Channel 2 television that he gave Rice Israel's demands of the Palestinians.
"If the Palestinians do not to everything to halt the smuggling of weapons through tunnels, close the tunnels, close the weapons workshops, gather up illegal weapons - we would simply be giving the violent groups time to regroup and then carry out terror attacks that could collapse the whole process," he said.
On Monday, Rice will travel to the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.
Tuesday's summit, hosted and initiated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, will be attended by Sharon, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah.
Although the U.S. has said that the secretary of state will not attend the talks, her agenda is likely to include in part a review of the plans for the summit.
Rice has signaled she prefers to see Sharon and Abbas make progress as free of foreign mediation as possible.
"I hope we would all get into a mind-set that says if the parties are able to continue to move on their own, that's the very best outcome," Rice told reporters en route to Ankara, the stop before Israel.
Preparations for the Egypt summit are being finalized, but not before her arrival.
Israeli officials assessed that the secretary of state would commend both sides on their recent efforts.
Paul Patin, a spokesman of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, said Rice would bring up a wide range of issues, including Israel's commitment under the internationally backed road map peace plan to dismantle dozens of unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts and Israeli gestures to the Palestinians, such as the removal of Israeli checkpoints that disrupt Palestinian travel - gestures that would bolster confidence in the new Palestinian leadership.
"Outposts are something that they promised to remove years ago and we expect them to abide by their commitments," Patin said.
She is also expected to call on the Palestinians to do more to restore security and bring an end to violence.
For their part, the Americans are trying to play down Rice's absence from the Egyptian summit.
"It is not necessary to participate at the highest level in every gathering in order to be a major player and part of the solution," a State Department spokesman explained Saturday.
In Israel, police raised their level of operations in various regions around the country Sunday, in anticipation of Rice's arrival and the run-up to Tuesday's summit.
Police decided to bolster forces around the country and checkpoints were set up between the seam line and various Israeli cities. Police will conduct both regular and undercover patrols.
Sharon may invite Mubarak Israeli officials, meanwhile, said Sunday that Sharon may invite his Egyptian counterpart to visit Israel during Tuesday's summit, as relations between the former enemies continue to flourish.
The invitations "is quite likely," said an unnamed official. "We would very much like him to come."
In recent months relations have improved as Egypt took a larger role in mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. The last visit by an Egyptian leader to Israel was by Mubarak in 1995, when he came to the funeral of assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
""Good on ya', Condi!"
How scintillating! On second thought, never mind: Secretary Rice is in the unenviable position in this thread of being defined by the occasional screechings of her most rabid supporters, and given that reality I'm inclined to cut her a good deal of slack. Especially considering the intellectual vapidity of that "support"...as the saying goes: "God save me from my friends; I can protect myself from my enemies" (Marshall de Villares).
That is the case here.
You might just be happily surprised at what might unfold in the Middle East in coming days, weeks and months.
The "leaders" of the region don't just have each other to worry about. There is a force much more powerful than all of them combined. He can wipe out the entire Middle East if he chooses. The "leaders" of the area and the people better start getting their act together and really attempt to make peace, or else it's bye bye.
I have it on good authority that the Master of the Universe has had enough with all of the violence.
Sit back, pop some popcorn, watch and learn how real work is done in the Middle East.
Indeed, it is.
"That tends to be something of a syndrome in this neighborhood"
Indeed, it does. From time to time. Just check your ping buddy's posts for proof...
By-the-bye, and along those lines, I served in the Armed Forces of the United States during the mid-to-late eighties, when there was such a thing as a Berlin Wall, and a Cold War. In fact, I have pictures of that Wall, and Checkpoint Charlie, and the Helmstadt entry point into East Germany when such things were still in full operation, with armed guards and barbed wire and all of that. The Red Army crashing through the Fulda Gap was much on our minds during those days...
How about you?
LOL...reading comprehension is not a skill you took to much, is it?
You're like John Kerry I'm sure - knows-it-all but in fact has never accomplished.
As I say - sit back and watch. There's so much you could learn...
Gaze in the mirror quite a bit, do you? ...snicker...
And when you have been proven wrong on President Bush's ME policy - I'll bet you will be no where to be found.
Quite a bit, yes, actually, when I'm not outright laughing at such pitiful offerings as you've posted in this thread so far...(okay, I confess: I've actually been laughing, for the most part, at your posts, not "snickering"...but post some more, please. I might work my way down to a simple "snicker" over time...)
I'll be happy to repeat myself: I suggest you deal with your jealousy and envy of Secretary Rice. You have no content in your posts - just hubris.
Wow...says it all.
I've rarely seen such raw antisemitism so openly & honestly displayed in this forum before--and it's as disgusting as the day is long.
Assuming you're a Christian, as I am, you, sir, sicken me and blight the core truth of our faith with such disgusting sentiments.
LOL...I'm sure you will. And I'll still be laughing all the while at such pitiful simpering/mutterings...
Come up with some better material...(just a suggestion)
peddle your bilge elsewhere, and among those who don't know any better. Thank-you.
As a self-proclaimed "Christian" - (Mr. Kerry claimed to be one, too, btw) - what do you think is the greatest commandment?
Don't worry about it. This "cad" fellow is all about hubris and riducule. He really has nothing else to say.
--Sunsong (trying to mimic AJC's rapier wit by lifting quotes directly from him; the mental tank must be needling towards empty out that way...)
...snicker...
Well, they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (AJC erupts with hilarious laughter at this point).
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