By NNN-KUNA
Washington : US Secretary of Rice Condoleeza Rice has said that a potential peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis need the support of moderate Arab states in the region.
“A Palestinian leader, no matter how strong, is not going to be able to make the important compromises that will be needed without the support of these Arab states,” said Rice Wednesday, commenting on Arab support to the peace meeting next month in Annapolis.
Appearing before House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, whose members seemed skeptical of her administration peace efforts in the region, Rice noted that Egyptian and Jordanian officials expressed support so far to this peace track, but declined to speculate on who might attend or not among Arab governments till invitations are actually issued.
Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs Tom Lantos questioned the timing of the Annapolis meeting next month, arguing that both Palestinian and Israeli governments are “weak” at this point. “You have about 14 months left in this administration and you are reaching out for the Israeli-Palestinian issue as one faint hope to leave a positive diplomatic record for the United States for this administration,” he said.
“The timing comes down to what it is we need to do to give forces of moderation a boost in the region and to deal a blow to the forces of extremism,” Rice swiftly replied.
The ranking minority member of the committee Ileana Ros-Lehtinen indirectly questioned “the efficacy of pursuing final status issues through the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at this time”, referring to Hamas control of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ “unwilling to truly confront Palestinian terrorism”.
Rice asserted that she raised with Egyptian officials during her last visit to Cairo the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, asserting that this is “a source of concern” for both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.
“I believe that the Egyptians understand that it is not in their national interest to have the smuggling take place,” she added, noting that Cairo “had not made enough progress” on this front.
Rice disclosed that the United States will soon dispatch a senior delegation to the region to help Egyptian, Palestinian, and Israeli officials deal with the “not acceptable” smuggling issue. “I was very clear with the Egyptians that whatever the challenges and the difficulties of cutting off smuggling routes, they had to do more and they had to do more urgently,” she added.
Rice also tackled the Iranian influence in the Gaza Strip. “To see Iranian actual penetration now of these more radical elements of the Palestinian terrorist groups is really quite troubling,” she said in reference to Hamas and added that the peace meeting is trying “to give to the moderate forces a chance to demonstrate that statehood is a reality”.
“No one is going to want to see a Palestinian state established that leaves a security vacuum,” said Rice about the post agreement phase if both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government reach a deal in Annapolis next month.
Rice said she will request addition funding from Congress to support Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad while challenging the Palestinian Authority. “I have been very clear with the Palestinians that they have to meet their obligations. I’ve been very clear that they have a number of obligations that are unmet,” she added.