USA: U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice optimistic about Middle East quartet meeting; Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi meets with Iranian President Ahmadinejad

U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice met with the Kosovo Contact Group on Wednesday (September 20), at the sidelines of the ongoing U.N. General Assembly. At the photo-opportunity with the Kosovo Group that followed, Rice was assailed by reporters with questions on an array of issues. She spoke about how her meetings with the Quartet of the Middle East were proceeding. "We did have a very good quartet meeting, which we discussed and indeed welcomed the efforts of Abu Mazen to deal with the difficult circumstances in the Palestinian territories. We noted again the importance of the formation of a Palestinian that would be devoted to and respectful of the principles of the quartet put out some time ago. It only goes without saying that you cannot have peace if you do not recognize the right of your partner to exist, and that renunciation of violence is a key to peace negotiations or peace talks," Rice said. The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators on Wednesday (September 20) endorsed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' effort to establish a national unity government with Hamas, which is still officially committed to the destruction of Israel. Abbas is trying to build a coalition of his moderate Fatah party and the Islamist Hamas movement which defeated it in elections in January. The West has boycotted the Hamas-led government formed in March because it refused to recognize Israel and renounce violence. The use of the term "reflect" allows Abbas some leeway for what may be an oblique formula for recognizing past Palestine Liberation Organization agreements. The statement, endorsed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, represented a significant easing of the United States' stance toward the Palestinian Authority since Hamas took it over this year. The statement also called for a three-month extension and expansion of a temporary mechanism that channels aid to the Palestinians bypassing the existing Hamas-led government. When Rice was asked about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's remarks to the U.N. General Assembly earlier on Wednesday, chastising Bush, she responded, "I am not going to dignify a comment by the Venezuelan President, that the (unclear) President of the United States should be spoken of in such a way. I think its not becoming for a head of state." On Iran, Rice said that she hoped that its leaders would agree to a meeting with European negotiator Javier Solana. She added that the international community's reputation was at stake if it didn't deal with Iran and its nuclear issues in the manner that it had itself outlined through various U.N. Security Council resolutions. Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi met with Ahmadinejad on Wednesday (September 20), telling reporters before the meeting that it was vital to leave no stone unturned to resolve the nuclear crisis. Prodi, who is the first EU head of government to meet with Ahmadinejad, said all options were open, from negotiations to action at the U.N. Security Council to possible sanctions. Ahmadinejad had initiated the meeting, and Prodi says he accepted the invitation in the hope of being able to influence him. Prodi also met with outgoing U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, whose term will expire in December 2006.

ITN Source | September 21, 2006

Tags:. .negotiator. .initiated. .destruction. .resolutions. .easing