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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: February 1, 2005 |
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There can be no Arab-Israeli peace unless the Palestinians gain a state that satisfies their aspirations for independence, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said before meeting with a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Rice said a Palestinian state was "within our grasp." Israel must recognize, she said Monday, that the state must be viable and contiguous, which means it would have enough land to function well.
Due in Israel and the West Bank for talks next Monday, Rice telegraphed her message in a conversation with State Department employees.
"I don't think any of us doubt that without a Palestinian state that is viable, that can meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people, that there really isn't going to be a peace for either the Palestinian people or the Israelis," she said.
Rice also urged Arab states to stop incitement to violence, but her emphasis was on the necessity of Israel's yielding territory and "creating conditions in which a new Palestinian state could emerge."
Sharon has volunteered to give up Gaza and a few Jewish settlements on the West Bank, but otherwise he has not indicated how much additional land he would turn over to a Palestinian state.
Rice's remarks in a State Department auditorium preceded a meeting with Sharon's chief of staff for an assessment of prospects for peacemaking with the Palestinians.
The unannounced meeting with Dov Weisglass was designed to bring Rice up to date on the prospect that Sharon might hold talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and on chances of a cease-fire.
Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said Weisglass was emphasizing "the importance of broadening security cooperation so that it will lead to more cooperation for disengagement" in Gaza.
Rice is planning to see Abbas on the West Bank. She has pledged to play a personal role in Middle East diplomacy, and her talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the area will be her first effort to insert the Bush administration in a process in which the two sides seem to be making progress on their own.
Rice intends to stop in Israel on a trip to Europe that begins Thursday.
Her predecessor, Colin Powell, taking his cues from President George W. Bush, played a limited personal role after deciding that the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was inept, corrupt and involved in attacks against Israelis.
Arafat's death and the election of Abbas have opened what many perceive as an opportunity for negotiations on an overall accord.
Initially, the Bush administration is trying to get Israel and the Palestinians to comply with a "road map" that both sides technically have accepted. The two sides have been slow to implement all provisions.
On the Israeli side this includes dismantling all outposts on the West Bank. An open question is whether the administration will try to restrict further Israeli construction at settlements.
In Jerusalem, Jewish settlers and their supporters protested outside parliament for a second day. They oppose Sharon's plan to remove all Israelis and all troops from the Gaza Strip and to turn it over to the Palestinians as a first step toward their state.
There was no report from State Department officials about Rice's meeting with Weisglass and other Israeli officials. However, the press office issued a statement urging Israel and the Palestinians to end violence.
The statement responded to the killing of a 10-year-old Palestinian girl in a Gaza school yard. Boucher's office issued a statement saying "the death of any innocent individual, especially children, is a tragedy." |
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