By NNN-KUNA
Washington : Arab states need to be “very active” in supporting Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during testimony before a US House subcommittee.
While some Arab states are being active, “frankly, the Israelis are going to need to know that the outreach of the Arabs to them is coming as a part of this broader effort,” Rice said in an appearance before the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programmes Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday.
On the negotiating track, which is being run by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Quriea, encouragement comes from the fact that they are not talking outside about what they are discussing inside, Rice said.
“They have been very clear that they are having very important discussions, very consequential discussions, but that they are going to do it in a way that is serious, and that they are not trying to report to the press every day about what they are doing,” she said.
“And that has led to some sense that perhaps nothing is going on there.” While the talks may not succeed, Rice said, “I have not seen greater commitment from the two people than I am seeing from them,” as well as from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
West Bank improvement is very important, she said, because improving the lives of ordinary Palestinians will demonstrate that Abbas can do that, providing a contrast between the West Bank and Gaza, where Iranian-backed Hamas staged a coup last June.
US Lieutenant-General William Fraser is in the region, and will hold “a road-map obligations and implementation meeting at the end of this week,” Rice said, referring to the UN-backed but long-stalled plan to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “And so we are working very hard on these other tracks.”
Rice echoed President George W. Bush, saying there is “plenty of time to get an agreement by the end of this year.” Bush leaves office in January.