By KUNA
Gaza : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday she expected Israel and Palestinians to take meaningful steps to improve the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Rice, who arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday for a three-day mission in which she will shuttle between offices of Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said she was looking for ways to ease Israeli travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Rice said during a press conference with her Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, “I would hope … we’re going to be able to do some things, or that Israel and the Palestinians together will be able to do some things, that are meaningful both for security (for Israel) and for economic viability (for Palestinians).” Meanwhile, Livni said Israel wanted to help the Palestinians but offered no details on how to do that, and stressed that any steps should not compromise Israeli security.
“The idea is to ease the life of the Palestinians,” Livni said. “Like always, the formula is to do whatever we can as long as it doesn’t affect our own security. Because the other’s responsibility is to find the way to secure security to the Israeli citizens.” Israel announced today that it will remove one army checkpoint between Jericho and the Dead Sea to facilitate movement of the Palestinians and help them live better.