Middle East

Documents & Texts from America.gov

05 May 2008
Improvements in Palestinians' Lives Would Aid Mideast Diplomacy

By David I. McKeeby
Staff Writer

See also:
 • Joint Press Availability with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
 • Moving Forward on the Tracks of the Annapolis Conference
 • Rice, Palestinian President Abbas Press Availability in Ramallah

Washington -- A Middle East peace settlement remains possible, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, if negotiators redouble their efforts to translate diplomatic progress into tangible improvements in the lives of Palestinians.

“Improvements in the daily lives of the Palestinians and the ability of the Palestinian Authority to deliver for its people will certainly improve the capability of that leadership to deliver a political agreement with Israel,” Rice said May 2 in London.

The secretary met in London with the other representatives from the Quartet for the Middle East -- Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. Rice highlighted quiet progress between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators toward the peace deal pledged at the U.S.-sponsored November 2007 Annapolis Conference.

She also underlined the need for continued improvement on two parallel, but linked, components of the process: action on diplomatic and security measures outlined in the Quartet’s road map plan for Mideast peace and international efforts to help strengthen Palestinian Authority governance.

“We have no option but to carry on working on this,” says Quartet Special Representative and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “It is, in my view, the single most important thing that we can do to bring about a different atmosphere in that whole region.”

From London, Rice traveled to Israel and the West Bank, where she urged more progress on lifting border restrictions, as outlined in the road map plan. While Israel pledged March 31 to open 61 barriers between Israel and the West Bank, a recent U.N. report found that 44 have been opened in areas with minimal benefit.

The challenge ahead, Rice said, was to build on the agreement by opening crossings that would maximize the West Bank’s future economic development while minimizing Israel’s security concerns, in accordance with the Quartet road map.

“There is some economic growth happening now in the West Bank, but there could be much more if we got the Palestinian Authority, the donor community, and Israel doing everything that is possible to do, consistent with security to improve the situation there,” Rice said in London May 2.

Another challenge is Israeli settlements in occupied territories, Rice said.

“The United States continues to hold with you that settlement activity is contrary to road map obligations and continues to raise with the Israelis the importance of creating an atmosphere that is conducive to negotiations of the final status agreement,” Rice said May 4 with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“Israel is going to implement its obligations according to the road map,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in a join press appearance with Rice earlier in the day. “Our idea is to reach an understanding, to find a way to define the future borders of the Palestinian state.”

Rice concluded her visit by meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who met later in the day with Abbas in Jerusalem to discuss the settlement issue and evaluate negotiators’ progress.

President Bush returns to the region May 13-18 for meetings in Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

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