That they asked for it, they got it, those arabs.
Hey, don't go away mad. -your Arab butt buddies want to play.
Want to know who the proud father is in the background?
He's right here. Life, 1970
Posted on 08/18/2005 4:21:25 PM PDT by Alouette
As Israel struggled Thursday to evacuate the Gush Katif settlements, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it must take further steps.
"Everyone empathizes with what the Israelis are facing," she said in an interview with The New York Times. But, she added, "It cannot be Gaza only."
Rice said this is "really quite a dramatic moment in the history of the Middle East," and praised Sharon for proving himself "enormously courageous."
According to the Times, Rice said that while the withdrawal would take several weeks, Israel must take further steps soon afterward, including loosening travel restrictions in the West Bank and withdrawing from more Palestinian cities.
She also said the Palestinian Authority must disarm Hamas. "That is their obligation under the road map," she said.
Rice's comments prompted Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, a disengagement opponent, to call on Sharon to hold an emergency cabinet discussion on the matter.
"Rice's comments prove there is no basis to the prime minister's statement that there will not be an additional disengagement," he said.
"To my dismay, the unilateral evacuation of settlements from Gaza and northern Samaria creates a dangerous precedent which endangers the legitimacy of Israeli settlement in Judea, Samaria, the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and neighborhoods in east Jerusalem," Katz said.
But a senior official in the Prime Minister's Office warned against blowing Rice's words "out of proportion."
The official said that whereas some would automatically want to interpret her words as evidence that the US would now begin pressuring Israel to begin a second stage of disengagement, this was not what she said.
He said Rice was interested in seeing the implementation of the security plan put together by her envoy, Lt.-Gen. William Ward, which called for Israel to transfer control of the West Bank cities to the PA, but which Israel halted because of security considerations.
The official said Israel would transfer the cities to the PA when the security situation on the ground would make such a step possible. Furthermore, he repeated the government's well-known position that Israel would move ahead with the road map when the Palestinians fulfilled their obligations under the plan, first and foremost the dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure.
Some officials in Jerusalem have warned in recent weeks that once disengagement was complete, the US would once again begin pressuring Israel to remove the unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank. The US backed off of this issue in recent months, so as not to create any additional domestic problems for Sharon as he was gearing up for disengagement.
While Rice said she expected Israel to take further steps immediately, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai Al-Aam that Gaza would serve as a "model," and if the PA dismantled the terrorist infrastructure and "peace and quiet reign in the region, we will be able to move forward and return to the road map."
But, he said in comments published Thursday, "If Gaza turns into a base for shooting missiles at Israel and increasing Palestinian attacks, it will be impossible to move on to another step and take a new risk."
During the interview with the paper, conducted in Shalom's office on Wednesday, he said Israel was now expecting Palestinian "actions," not excuses. He said Israel was focused on the day after disengagement, and waiting to see whether the PA would rise to the occasion and – when it gains control of Gaza – dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and govern responsibly.
Shalom said PA Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's first order of business after disengagement should be to arrest Hamas activists. "Abbas should do this not to protect Israel, but to safeguard his own power," he said.
Shalom's interview with the Kuwaiti paper was one of four interviews he gave key Arabic media outlets over the last two days to signal to the Arab world that the disengagement momentum should be seized upon, and that Israel was serious about peace.
He told the Kuwaiti paper that Gaza would not become a "prison," and that negotiations with the Palestinians regarding border crossings and safe passage were ongoing.
Asked about the long-disrupted peace talks with Syria, and whether Israel would be willing to give up the settlements in the Golan Heights as it did in Gaza, Shalom said: "Every party can come to the negotiation table with the topics they want, and we have to talk about everything."
AP contributed to this report.
Oh, BS.
Thanks for the ping I am deeply saddened by this.
No, personally because I thought he was better than John Kerry. On the war on terror, he is. As to Israel, I'll withold judgement, though at this time I'd say he's better than Carter, worse than Clinton, and certainly not a Reagan or Nixon.
Israel should be taking land not giving it away. One man's opinion.
I am sure that Israel will return to the abandoned land to take care of the people that will attack them from that land.
Poor, poor Israel. Now we, Israel's main ally, are abandoning them. Bush claims to read the Bible every night. Could've fooled me....
Among the many additions to American foreign policy, a sovereign palestinian state, 1949 borders, is a land connection between Gaza and the West Bank.
Where the *ell did that come from?
Even the Arabs and the UN never thought of that as a realistic demand, till now.
I look forward to military action carving out a land passage from Washington to Alaska. Lousy, land grabbing Canadians.
Why doesn't Rice take a few long steps off a short pier.
Rice 08?
I don't think so.
Bush is doing no less than Clinton did. Pressure the Israelis into making concessions. The Palestinians agree to certain stipulations and promptly renege. The US holds Israel to their agreement. The Palestinians get away with murder (literally), again.
At some point, Israel is going to have to say enough. Time for Abbas to do as he agreed.
I am terribly disappointed to hear this from Rice. Has she not heard the addage "to the victor go the spoils".
The Arabs began a war and lost. That land belongs to Israel. What are the Palestinians giving up? Nothing.
I'm disgusted to hear this from Condi, who I have admired for years, but she's out to lunch on this one.
Our policy is assinine. Israel took this land after they were attacked. For them to give it back will do nothing to serve the cause of peace. Hammas and the rest of that ilk want nothing more than to drive the Jews into the sea. GWB wake up before its too late!! This is no road map for peace, it's a road map for destruction.
For whatever my word is worth around here, I agree, most emphatically.
Oh, I get it. Israelis, just pack up and move out of your country, period. Here, we'll help Hamas, Hizballah and Islamic Jihad assist you out. What a crock, what a back-stabbing thing for Rice to say. Forget her!
DO NOT FOLLOW WHAT WE SAY ISRAEL!! If you had followed what people were demanding, you wouldn't have lasted past 1947.
Thanks for the post. Interesting. Very interesting.
That they asked for it, they got it, those arabs.
Hey, don't go away mad. -your Arab butt buddies want to play.
Want to know who the proud father is in the background?
He's right here. Life, 1970
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.