By Deng Yushan, Xinhua,
Jerusalem : U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday concluded her latest trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, reiterating that a peace deal is still possible within 2008.
During the seventh trip to the hot spot since the two neighbors set up the ambitious goal at a U.S.-host conference in Annapolis last November, the top U.S. diplomat also urged Israel to halt the confidence-undermining settlement activity in the West Bank.
“With the goodwill of the parties and the tireless work of the parties, we have a good chance of succeeding,” Rice said of the Annapolis goal at a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday afternoon at the West Bank city of Ramallah.
While Abbas said the Palestinians “have to continue working with the administration of President (George W.) Bush in order to reach an agreement,” and “have to exert every effort within the coming period and not to loose any opportunity to reach an agreement.”
Earlier in the day, following a breakfast meeting between Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Olmert’s office said the two still “share the belief that an agreement can be reached between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of 2008.”
Little tangible progress has been achieved in the peace efforts since the Annapolis conference, which have been further challenged by the political turmoil in Israel, where Olmert faces fraud and bribery probes and has announced to resign after his Kadima party’s primary elections in mid-September, and by the conflict between the pragmatic Fatah and the hardline Hamas at the Palestinian side.
Yet just before a three-way meeting with the chief negotiators of both sides, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, at Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, Rice insisted that progress was being made despite the difficulties, saying that she was “very heartened by the fact that the negotiations are serious, and they are intensive.”
“And, in fact, I believe that the parties have succeeded in moving their understandings of what needs to be achieved. And, indeed, they’re positioned somewhat closer together over this period of time,” said Rice at a joint press conference with Livni.
Hours before Rice’s arrival on Monday, Israel released 198 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to bolster Abbas and the peace efforts. Yet Abbas said there would be no peace without the release of all the more than 11,000 prisoners.
”FULL PEACE DEAL”
Discouraged by the sluggish peace process, expectations are lowering for the two neighbors to realize the Annapolis goal, a comprehensive peace deal in 2008, with many downgrading the goal to just striking some sort of document.
However, Abbas stressed at the joint press conference that he and Rice “discussed reaching a full peace deal, and not a partial one that postpones other issues,” adding that “the solution must be comprehensive.”
Olmert had proposed to postpone the issue of the status of Jerusalem for several years, a scenario Palestinians firmly rejected.
Rice, who reportedly hoped that the Israelis and Palestinians could produce a document codifying points of agreement before the mid-September UN General Assembly meeting, also abandoned such a plan.
“I think it’s extremely important just to keep making forward progress rather than trying prematurely to come to some set of conclusions,” local daily The Jerusalem Post quoted her as telling reporters on the plane prior to her arrival.
In a meeting with foreign reporters last week, Livni warned that “any attempt to bridge gaps which might be premature to bridge, or any attempt to reach something which is not the comprehensive agreement we want to reach, can lead to clashes,” misunderstandings and violence.
“I believe that a timeline is important, but what’s more important is the content and the nature of the understanding that we can reach with the Palestinians,” said Livni, head of Israel’s negotiation team and most hopeful successor to Olmert.
SETTLEMENT ACTIVITY UNDERMINING CONFIDENCE
Meanwhile, settlement activity is not conducive to creating an environment for the two sides to reach understandings, said Rice.
The Israeli watchdog Peace Now on Tuesday issued a report saying that construction of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories has nearly doubled in the first five months of 2008 compared to the same period of last year.
“I think it’s no secret, and I have said it to my Israeli counterparts, that I don’t think that settlement activity is helpful,” Rice said at the joint press conference with Livni. “Anything that undermines confidence between the parties ought to be avoided.”
Calling the settlements “undoubtedly a main obstacle in the road of the peace process,” Abbas said the Palestinians “reject all the settlement activities in principle because they contradict with the agreements and the roadmap plan and the objectives” of the Annapolis conference.
In her response, Livni said it is not Israel’s policy to increase activity in the settlements, but “rather it is to decrease activity,” adding that “You can’t allow noise affect the diplomatic proceedings.”
Under the “road map” peace plan, which serves as the basis of the peace talks, Israel promised to halt all settlement construction. Yet the Jewish state has continued expanding the areas which it vows to retain under any final peace deal.
Time is shrinking for the Annapolis pledge, yet a upbeat Rice said that “we still have a number of months before us to work toward the Annapolis goal and we’re going to do precisely that.”
The secretary of state also joined Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his wife at dinner on Monday night, when she reiterated that Iran should be prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons.
She repeated such remarks when meeting with opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz shortly before her departure.
Commenting on Russia’s recognition of the independence of two breakaway regions in Georgia, Rice said that the move was “regrettable” and would “be dead-on-arrival in the Security Council.”