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.
An election where the outcome is a foregone conclusion and known in advance is not the hallmark of democracy. It is window dressing.
I am afraid that the current administration, Pres Bush included, may be indulging in wishful thinking here.
When did you change your name to "human compassion"?
I am afraid that the current administration, Pres Bush included, may be indulging in wishful thinking here.
No, I think it is you who is indulging in pessimism. time will tell, of course, but this election was s a definite improvement and should be acknowleged as such.
I think I have a good sense of what you are about. Too bad for you. Life can be much better than that...
Boy, you are defensive. Does human compassion make you want to vomit? Might want to look into that? But I still want to know - do you not care, Alouette? I really have to ask. How is it that you show no signs of ever even thinking about what could be done?
When Pres Bush was Governor he did indeed experience the smallness of Israel from a helicopter. He has commented on it.
I believe what drives Pres Bush is an idealism and longing to solve this situation even from a position of caring for the people of Israel. But that does not mean he is not making a mistake.
It is for G-d, in the end to make His rescue of Israel and Jerusalem. Yet where will we be when that happens, with Him or against His desire?
That may be your belief system. I don't share it. I believe that democracy is coming to the ME. How long will it take? I don't know. But it is coming. More freedom, less tyranny. And that will be good.
I do not hate Arabs. Nor do I hate Jews. I love America. I think that tryanny has caused much suffering for Arabs and been a major contributor to terroism. I am interested in seeing that change by increasing the amount of freedom and decreasing the amount of tryanny in the region. So, for me, a Palestinian State living in peace side by side with Israel is a good thing.
Oh, I am here to stay. But you are free to leave :-)
Nor does it mean that you are right. In fact, I believe the odds are in favor of the President and against you. Naysayers are usually wrong in my experience.
Hey little arrogant one, did you not read my post # 97 on this thread where I said this:
[[[I am sick of anti-Americanism, anti-Bush, anti-Rice vitriol. I am fed up with it. My loyalty is to America. I have supported President Bush's tough stand with Arafat and the so-called Palestinaians - but I am truly outraged with the garbage posted on this thread and as far as I'm concerned - if you all cannot work with us - by all means - move on. – post # 97]]]
You are not telling me anything I don't know already.
Get it? :-)
There is also a saying, "many are called but few are chosen". But I believe that "all are called - few choose to answer".
So my view is that "chosen" simply means those who have answered God's call.
In recent years the United States. It wasn't always so though one has to go back to the Eisenhower administration to find that to be true.
Why do you want to stick your finger in the eye of your best friend?
That is not what anyone at all is suggesting. What we are suggesting is that if and when the United States stops acting like a friend and starts plotting our demise instead our reaction has to change.
For the entire diaspora period Jews prayed "Leshana haba'a b'Yerushalayim" or, in English, "Next year in Jerusalem". Israel's national anthem, Hatikva, literally "The Hope", ends with the line "b'eretz Tzion, Yerushalayim" which translates as "in the land of Zion, Jerusalem". That is what Jews the world over hoped for.
During the almost 400 years of Ottoman rule the majority or plurality of Jerusalem's population was Jewish. In 1854 Jerusalem had 15,500 inhabitants, of which just over 8,000 were Jewish. The first Jews moved outside the ancient, walled city in 1860. That means that the entire Jewish majority was in what the media now calls "Arab East Jerusalem". What made it "Arab"? The conquest of that part of the city by the Jordanians in 1948 resulted in the expulsion of the Jewish population.
Jerusalem is holy to Jews. It has been the center of our culture and our religion for 3,009 years. It is our capital and it was our capital during all periods of Jewish sovereignty, from ancient times, to when the Persians restored Jewish sovereignty in the 6th century, to now.
You tell me this: Why should we allow anyone, even an emissary from a friendly nation, question our right to our capital for three milennia? Secretary Rice made a mistake. We are pointing that out. That is all. It is not an attack on the Secretary of State but rather an expression to a friend that she needs to choose her words more carefully.
Now let me make this clear: If any U.S. government demands that Israel cede Jerusalem or a significant part of it (i.e.: the ancient, walled city) the friendship between the U.S. and Israel would end at that moment. Thankfully that moment has never come. I sincerely think that all of us you have attacked would wish that such a moment would never come. It is precisely to help insure that and to preserve the friendship with the U.S. that we need to express our discomfort with the idea or redividing Jerusalem.
BTW, any Israeli Prime Minister who offers to divide Jerusalem falls from power. How do you think that Ehud Barak lost his coalition? When he offered to give away part of Jerusalem a large part bolted.
I meant to tell you that I was not offended by the "mad Jew" line. In fact I thought it might be a better screen name for me than "anotherview". I might want to adopt "mad Jew" for myself :)
When I was much younger and living in the U.S. there was a very good baseball player, a relief pitcher, who called himself "the mad Hungarian". Do you think other Hungarians were offended by this?
For the umpteenth time I ask you, why should I care one whit what you think?
Interesting. Your view contradicts both Jewish and Christian scripture. I guess you know better than G-d.
Why should anyone care what you think?
As should be painfully clear by now my views are mainstream and yours are, well... loony.
Oh, I happen to notice that you post that you don't care what I think when I happen to post historical facts. I guess you don't let facts get in the way of your beliefs just as you don't let G-d get in the way of your beliefs.
No Secretary Rice told you what our policy is - she said that the status quo should remain.
If you don't like that - too bad.
As I have aksed you over and over - based on your statment that you don't care how I feel - please tell me why I should care at all what you think?
You are deluded. You hold extremist views and cannot even tell yourself the truth about it. I feel sorry for you.
Most Americans want a Palestinian state. Get used to it.
And I ask again - why should I care what you think? Are you incapable of answering the question?
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