Posted on 02/02/2005 7:12:36 AM PST by Sunshine55
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday held out the possibility of U.S. support to train and equip Palestinian forces as she seeks to promote Middle East peace on a visit to the region next week.
Making her first trip abroad as secretary of state, Rice will meet Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Monday to try to capitalize on what Washington sees as a new chance for peace after Yasser Arafat's death.
The disputed shooting of a Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip on Monday illustrated the fragility of the relative calm since the Palestinian icon died and triggered mortar fire by Arab militants on a nearby Jewish settlement.
Rice said Arafat's successor, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, had demonstrated the will to clamp down on violence by quickly deploying security forces in the Gaza Strip, where militant groups have adopted a tacit truce.
"It's not perfect, but they have made some progress" on getting control of the disparate Palestinian security forces and on cracking down on violence against Israelis, Rice told Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
"Obviously the Palestinians are going to need help in terms of training and equipping their new security forces and I am sure that there will be ways that we might be involved in that," she said.
Rice suggested Washington could also help the Palestinians develop democratic institutions and, eventually, support reconstruction if Israel carries through with its plan to close all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank.
"What I hope to do when I go there is to try and sustain -- help to sustain -- the momentum that they (the Israelis and Palestinians) have clearly developed over the last several weeks," she added.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.netscape.cnn.com ...
You are in the wrong half of the posters on this thread.
" Not a single piece of US gear should go to the Palis unless it's got a remote control disabling device for which Israel has the off switch."
Amen to that! And add that Israel would get a newer and better model of everything we send to the heathens.
Maybe you missed the memo, but around here anything that Bush wants is as a decree from God himself.
Is the threat gone?
Would Kerry have done it?
Think it through, please, before posting more absurdity.
"Anyone who thinks we will arm terrorists in Palestine is the simpleton"
???
Anyone who thinks Condi Rice is a simpleton has lost a grip on reality.
They will make more sense that way.
I never called Rice a simpleton.
But you seem to have done so.
Rice has been "captured by the building" (State) in record time. Essentially the Middle East section of State is and has been from the time of Dean Acheson completely Arabist in its outlook and policies. They consider Israel an annoyance and look forward with glee to its elimination. Only strong Presidents like Reagan have been able to curb the appetite of State for the destruction of Israel.
Scroll up a few posts, and you'll see the accusation in black and white.
Anyone who thinks Condi Rice is a simpleton, or that the Bush administration will enable terrorists in any way at any time and turn on Israel, hasn't been paying any attention to real life.
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OK... and I'll ask you
Which is a greater threat to Israel:
The old Saddam Iraq
or
Being forced to it cut itself in half- giving a "corridor" to the Arabs, forced to give back all the land conquered in war, and forced to face a US trained and armed Arab population on its borders?
Think it through, please, before posting more absurdity.
"Obviously the Palestinians are going to need help in terms of training and equipping their new security forces and I am sure that there will be ways that we might be involved in that," she (Dr. Rice) said.
Anyone who thinks we will arm terrorists in Palestine is the simpleton - you, post 59.
Consider the cobwebs cleared.
My statement stands.
I'm in shock!! Joel 3:2
She is NOT talking about arming terrorists. The Bush administration is ridding the world of terrorism, and, one of the strongest friends Israel has ever had in this country.
Get out the Swiffer. You haven't yet begun to clear things up.....
And your absurdity is thinking that he would be worse.
Your statement stands in the corner it painted itself in.
So how many billions is this gonna cost us?
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