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.
If it did I would be there.
President Bush doesnt need yes men and would have little respect for such blind allegiance.
I doubt even Cheney agrees with him on everything.
Would you like Israel meddling in our affairs? Of course not.
And you have made what points? Don't look now but all you and your commrades have been doing is repeating and repeating. You have made no salient points.
If you support the establishment of a Palestinian State - then what is your argument with me? And please answer my question - why should I care what you think when you have made it clear that you don't care how offensive you are?
I would think you would be proud of the "label"?
Activists outraged at coyote shoot
If you like Sunsong, you’d have loved Sungirl: This account has been banned or suspended. I’m sure she was a supporter of Israel too.
There are things you can do with things you own, and things you do do with things you've borrowed, and things you can do with other people's property.
An owner lets a dog that has bitten many times out of a pen, because in the past few days the dog has behaved very peacefully, and answered the owner when called, and not barked and growled and threatened strangers. Just for the past week or so. Before that the owner has been fined a few times for when dog got out and bit people.
Now the dog is loose again. It would never bite the owner, but after a day or so it starts biting people.
The police come and shot the dog. The bitten nieghbors sue the owner for unleashing a known danger on the neighborhood.
The owner says -- "But the dog was acting responsibly, and I wanted to reward him. I did nothing wrong. I allowed the dog freedom! Why do you people have a problem with that? You could have avoided him, gone indoors. Don't you love dogs? Why do you hate dogs?"
What is the law in your town?
Why would any responsible owner expose others to danger?
Her stand must be blessed by W.There's absolutely positively no doubt whatsoever that President Bush believes that as many territorial disputes as possible, including those in Jerusalem, should be settled bilaterally. The Administration has even expressed misgivings over "disengagement" for this reason. Its views have been clear and consistent in this regard for four years.That is precisely what I fear.
There's also no doubt whatsoever that this Administration is committed to the defense of the Nation of Israel.
Bush and Rice certainly want progress towards peace to continue. Considering the US's commitment to Israel and specifically the amount of money we have paid to keep her secure, we have the perogative to comment on actions which we believe are non-conducive to peace. To illustrate the point with an extreme example, if NRP were to win the election and begin expanding "security zones" around settlements in the West Bank, the US would certainly object, with cause. I think most of us would understand why.
It sounds to me like Rice is objecting to the "absentee property" laws. IIRC, these are the laws which state that if land is not used for three years, it is nationalized by Israel. These laws are grossly offensive in both principle and practice. This is particularly the case when Palis are kept from using their land for either "security" reasons, or due to out and out harrasment as was reported near Itamar.
They are way too vulnerable to abuse and are certainly antithetical to the concept of private property. If Secretary Rice is complaining about them, good for her.
-Eric
Not that truth matters to you - but it was actually one of your buddys that accompluished that by pinging the moderator. But don't let facts get in your way when you are attacking, right...
We will see how things turn out...
And who is more resoponsible for the death of the poor dog? The dog-loving owner? The brtual cops who shot the dog? Or the "dog-hating" nieghbors who refused to run indoors when they saw the dog?
I'm not surprised someone pinged the AM. What caused the movement though is your disruptive performance, not the poster who called it to the AMs attention.
It's an old game you've played before Sunsong, or sungirl, or just plain troll.
We will see if the Palestinians stop the terror. If they do - they will be rewarded. If they don't - things will stay the same. It's their choice.
I have thousands of posts here on the topic. You can look at them just as others can. You have posts too. A click on the links in 285 is instructive as to who the extremist here is.
Well it seems that President Bush has never passed with a jet over Israel, neither watched Israel from a CIA/NASA satellite or looked at a map of Israel with deep thought.
Perhaps what drives President Bush is the same thing that drives Prime Miniser Sharon- a thing called politics?
(and not mentality and history of the region- a simple logic).
LOL - changing the subject will not work. Maybe you would be happier on some extremist site somewhere where you can more freely express your hatred?
If the "terror" you speak of being risked was upon the US, that would be acceptable as within the authority of the President and Congress to take on. But it is not -- we are risking the property and lives of others.
I'm just parroting you, sweetie. Wanna go hunting?
Agreed.
Right :-) Your view is almost predictable - blame. The person who pinged the mod is the person responsble just as bin Laden is the person responsible for 9/11. No one "made" them do it. But, as I say - don't let the facts get in the way of your attack - right?
As I say, you have not said anything that I find salient. Please enlighten me - what is your main point? That you oppose the establishment of a Palestinian State? That you are a Zionist? What?
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