By Xinhua
Cairo : U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice kicked off a new Middle East visit on Tuesday in a bid to help revive the Palestinian-Israeli talks following a five-day incursion of Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip.
Early in the morning, Rice arrived in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, seeking support of the Arab country and key U.S. ally in the region on efforts to push for the Mideast peace.
Following talks with Mubarak, Rice called on Israel and the Palestinians to quickly resume peace talks, saying she would work toward resumption of the negotiations of the two sides as soon as possible.
“There has to be an active peace process that can withstand the efforts of rejectionists to keep peace from being made,” said Rice at a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, adding “The people who are firing rockets do not want peace.”
Earlier reports said Rice is facing an uphill task during the visit which came after a new round of violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces withdrew its ground troops from Gaza and completed a five-day incursion in the Palestinian enclave that killed more than 120 Palestinians and wounded hundreds of others, but vowing its actions against Palestinian rocket fire would not stop.
The Palestinian side has declared its suspension of all contacts with Israel to protest against the Israeli practices in the strip.
Meanwhile, armed Palestinian groups on Tuesday continued firing home-made rockets into southern Israel, one day after the Israeli army withdrew ground troops from northern Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Hamas movement said Tuesday that Rice’s visit to the Middle East is not welcomed as it serves the aim of preventing Arab countries from responding to the help appeals from Gaza.
“Rice’s gloomy visit comes to rein in the state of solidarity among the Palestinian people,” said Hamas’ spokesman Fawzi Barhoom, adding “It also comes to give more support to the Israeli occupation to commit new massacres.”
Expressing deep concern over the innocent people both in Gaza and Israel, Rice urged Palestinian militants to stop rocket fire against Israel, backing Israel’s right to respond to the rocket attacks.
“The rocket attacks against innocent civilians in their (Israeli) cities need to stop,” Rice said, adding “No Israeli government can tolerate that.”
But Rice also said Israel must avoid causing civilian casualties when carrying out actions in response to rocket fire.
“I have told the Israelis that when they are engaged in defending themselves they need to be aware of the effects of those operations on innocent people,” said Rice.
The U.S. secretary of state said Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip last June, is armed “in part” by Iran. “It is very clear that they’re being armed in part by the Iranians,” she said.
Rice thus stressed the need for the United States to help train the Palestinian security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“If Hamas gets armed by the Iranians and nobody helps to improve the security capabilities of the legitimate Palestinian Authority security forces, that’s not a very good situation,” said Rice.
For his part, Abul Gheit said Hamas was “part of the Palestinian equation” and would have to be dealt with in future negotiations “if they would mend their ways” to renounce violence.
The one-hour meeting between President Mubarak and Rice also covered the latest developments in Lebanon, Iraq and the western Sudanese region of Darfur, Abul Gheit said.
The Egyptian foreign minister said Egypt is seeking to reach a cease-fire between the Palestinians and Israel through contacts with the United States, adding the Palestinian-Israeli talks should continue in a calm atmosphere.
After the several-hour stay in Egypt, Rice continued her Mideast trip in Israel and the Palestinian territories on more efforts to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.