Middle East

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31 July 2008
Resignation of Israel’s Olmert Will Not Stop Mideast Peace Effort

By David I. McKeeby
Staff Writer

Washington -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's resignation announcement will not disrupt U.S. efforts to promote Middle East peace through a two-state solution by the end of the Bush administration, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“We continue to be committed to the goals of Annapolis,” Rice said July 30 following a “fruitful” meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. “We continue to watch parties and to work with parties who are working very, very hard toward an agreement.”

Olmert’s announcement that he would step down in September after his party chooses a new leader came as Rice met behind closed doors for three-way talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie. They are working toward a comprehensive peace agreement pledged at the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis Conference in November 2007.

“The Middle East is not going to get better without the creation of a Palestinian state to live side-by-side with Israel in peace, security and democracy,” Rice said. “It simply isn't going to get better. And so the question is, if not now, when?”

Rice said the Israeli government has pledged to continue working for peace. She will return to the Middle East to meet negotiators again in a few weeks. “They're all committed to trying to make it happen, but nobody should underestimate the difficulty,” she said.

Among the goals of the Annapolis process are settlement of “final status” issues, including the location of borders, the future of Palestinian refugees, the status of Jerusalem and water rights; efforts by the “Quartet” of the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States to help Palestinians build strong governing institutions for their future state; and building confidence on both sides through the implementation of a series of diplomatic and security measures outlined in the Quartet’s road map plan.

Since the Annapolis conference, Rice frequently has met with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators while visiting the region or on the sidelines of international conferences to help them bridge differences at key junctures or to highlight areas of agreement that might otherwise be overlooked, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

“The issues are difficult, and they've always been difficult. There's nothing surprising in that,” Rice said. “But as I said, the goal remains the same.”

McCormack said both sides must make the tough compromises needed to secure a peace deal that would create a Palestinian state living in peace next to Israel.

“Fundamentally, they need to invest in this agreement,” McCormack said. “No amount of American or international or regional support will help them unless they have bought into it. And so that's really the idea that underpins [Rice's] style of helping the process along.”

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