Posted on 06/27/2006 1:44:38 AM PDT by familyop
PRESTWICK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israel late on Monday to give diplomacy a chance to win the release of an Israeli soldier taken hostage by militants in Gaza.
Palestinians in northern Gaza have begun blocking roads with mounds of earth and Israeli armor has massed on the other side of the Gaza frontier as Israel awaits word on the fate of Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Palestinian gunmen and taken to Gaza on Sunday.
"There really needs to be an effort now to try and calm the situation, not to let the situation escalate and to give diplomacy a chance to work to try to get this release," Rice told reporters who landed in Scotland for a refueling stop en route to Pakistan.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held Hamas, an Islamist group that came to power in March, and the Palestinian Authority chaired by President Mahmoud Abbas responsible for the assault by gunmen on the frontier with Gaza during which Shalit was abducted.
"The time is approaching for a comprehensive, sharp and severe Israeli operation. We will not wait forever," Olmert said in a speech. "We will not become a target of Hamas-terrorist blackmail."
Rice said there was a concerted international effort to win the soldier's release and that she had talked to Israel's foreign minister and Abbas to seek a resolution.
The United States is Israel's most important ally and also has strong influence over Abbas, who has received consistent U.S. support in his power struggle with a Hamas-led government.
Rice said that if Hamas was behind the raid it would show that the group -- considered a terrorist organization by the United States -- was ignoring international pressure to eschew violence.
"This is not behavior that is tolerable in the international system," she said.
I guess you're right, if you ignore Carter's bungled handling of the Iranian hostage crisis.
> Well now, let us not forget the subsequent Administration's 'guns-for-hostages' play....
Mate, I took *leave from work" to watch Ollie testify back then. Dang, that was amazing!
Muslims view diplomacy as simply another way to achieve their aims. Their religion gives them carte blanche to lie, cheat, steal, pillage, murder, commit acts of atrocity, and not be held to their word. They have no honor, integrity, morals.
Mate, I took *leave from work" to watch Ollie testify back then. Dang, that was amazing!
Never, Never negotiate with terrorists. Find them and KILL THEM, Period...
Diplomacy without weapons is like music without instruments.
Rice's message must be alive and well in the minds of Israeli leaders. What are they waiting for? Why aren't they in there already, getting medeival on those gaza cretins?
Exerpts from dictionaries sold in the middle east:
English -> Palestinian Dictionary:
di·plo·ma·cy
n.
1. More money and land.
2. More dead Jews.
3. A change to rebuild and plot more terrorist acts, after the infidels call a truce.
I hope that's diplo-speak for hand them over or we'll let the Israelis pave over Gaza.
This appeasment crap by Israel sure has been a great idea.
To hell with opinion, go in and start shooting til they release him. And if they don't release him alive and fine then ki9ll them all.
I hope you're right, but I doubt it. Rice has given, if anything, an even more ambivalent message than Powell. We now seem to have dictators bubbling up all over the place believing that if they talk tough, the US will be rushing to "negotiate" with them (i.e., give them more money and plead with them to be nice for at least the next three months). Maybe there are things going on behind the scenes that we're not seeing, but if so, I don't think we're seeing results, either. Just escalation by a bunch of nuts, ranging from Kim to Hugo to the Palis.
Don'cha just love diplomacy?
As one views the recent Rice efforts in Iran and Palestine, it becomes clear she is a graduate of the John Lennon school of diplomacy.
> ...the Bank of Credit and Commerce International? It wouldn't be surprising, but I don't know.
I don't know either, but it's funny how familiar names and places crop up in both cases.
Ten years separate the events: enough time for people to forget, but a tiny speck in the grand scheme of things.
> Never, Never negotiate with terrorists. Find them and KILL THEM, Period...
Never, never hate your enemy. It affects your judgment. And never, never limit your options.
Agree completely. She is not stupid. This comment is for show on the international stage. In private she's likely saying to the Israeli's to do what they need to do.
Islamic terrorists speak routinely out of "both sides of their mouths".
America and the Democracies should speak clearly -- and mean it.
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