MIDEAST: Rice expresses interest in Arab peace initiative, says Palestinian unity government must meet international demands to achieve peace

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday (March 25) after talks with the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in a bid to boost regional peace talks. Rice launched a two-day visit in Jerusalem and the West Bank ahead of an Arab summit on a Saudi peace initiative later this week. During a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Rice said she hoped to find a common agenda between both sides -- deeply divided over the recent establishment of a Palestinian unity government -- that would eventually lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. "I was very interested in his ideas concerning the the Arab initiative because perhaps that does offer an opportunity and a way to also have a prospect for Arab-Israeli reconciliation, all of which together with the establishment of a Palestinian state would make more... much more peaceful and hopeful and prosperous Middle East," she said during a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, held in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We talked about the horizons expected from the Arab Summit, and the issues which will be raised, especially that which is related to the Road Map which includes the Arab Initiative. From our point of view of course we are in agreement regarding this, the Arab Initiative is something that requires to be activated and here we should talk about the different means in order to activate not just the Arab Initiative but the entire peace process," Abbas added. Egypt, which Rice visited before flying on to Tel Aviv, said Arab states were ready to negotiate with Israel if the Jewish state accepted the 2002 peace initiative as a starting point. But Arab states, meeting in Riyadh on March 28 and 29, will not amend their initiative, which Israel says it finds problematic, before Israel makes the first move, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said. The plan offers Israel normal relations with all Arab states in return for withdrawal from land captured in 1967 and a solution for Palestinian refugees. Israel has repeatedly rejected the proposal but has recently shown some interest During the news conference Rice also said she hoped to find a common agenda between both sides -- deeply divided over the recent establishment of a Palestinian unity government -- that would eventually lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. Rice planned to see Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert later in the day and again on Monday, after returning from Amman and a second round of talks with Abbas, who will be visiting the Jordanian capital. She has been touring the Middle East, trying to persuade Arab governments to make a peace plan they ratified in 2002 more attractive to Israel by adding what she calls "active diplomacy" -- seen as code for early contacts with Israelis. After Abbas formed a unity government with Hamas Islamists earlier this month, Olmert signalled that direct talks with the Palestinian president would go nowhere and pledged to limit any future face-to-face meetings to humanitarian issues. Israel and the Quartet of Middle East negotiators -- the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- have demanded the Palestinian government recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace deals. The unity administration agreed only to "respect" previous accords and stopped short of recognising Israel. Rice told journalists in Ramallah that meeting the three conditions of the international community is a necessary condition for peace. "You would have to have a renunciation of violence as a foundational principle for peace. Obviously you would have to recognise the right of the other party to exist. It would be important to build on past agreements -- that goes without saying -- and the Road Map has a series of obligations that will have to be met. But I think it can help all of us to have a destination in mind to which we are going and that is really what is meant by a 'political horizon'," she said.

ITN Source | March 26, 2007

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