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Peace can go forward without Olmert, US says
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 30 - 07 - 2008


US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a
series of closed-door meetings Wednesday with Israeli and Palestinian
officials in an effort to nudge along the peace process, according to dpa.
Rice met with her Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Tzipi
Livni, ahead of a planned three-way meeting with chief Palestinian
negotiator Ahmed Qureia.
The United States is trying to broker a peace deal between the two
sides before President George W Bush leaves office in January, a goal
outlined at the Mideast conference Bush hosted in Annapolis, Maryland
in November.
That timeframe was thrown into question on Wednesday when Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, caught up in a corruption scandal,
announced he will not seek re-election as the head of his Kadima
Party. Livni, who backs the Annapolis process, is likely to replace
him at the helm of the party.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US intends to
push forward on the peace process regardless of the political turmoil
in Israel.
"If you wait for the perfect moment to try to help bring the two
parties together in a final agreement, you're going to be waiting
forever, because there probably never will be a perfect moment," he
said.
"You just have to deal with the political vicissitudes, whether
they're in Palestinian politics or Israeli politics," he added.
McCormack said both sides will have to make the tough compromises
that are needed to secure a deal that would create a Palestinian
state living in peace next to Israel.
"Fundamentally, they need to invest in this agreement," McCormack
said. "They need to buy into the compromises that will be necessary."
Bush, responding to criticism that he had neglected the issue,
last year identified resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a
top priority before his term runs out.
McCormack emphasized that the decisions need to be reached through
one-on-one negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians and
that Rice is just guiding the process.
"That's really the idea that underpins her style of moving the
process along," he told reporters after the meetings started.
Olmert dampened hope of an agreement when he said Monday it was
not likely that key issues such as the status of Jerusalem - which
both sides claim as their capital - could be resolved by year's end.
Rice said on Tuesday that she remained confident the Israelis and
Palestinians were determined to reach an accord by the end of the
year, responding to Olmert's remarks.
"I am quite certain and I have been assured that the government of
Prime Minister Olmert remains committed to the Annapolis vision of
concluding an agreement by the end of the year," Rice said after
meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. "There is no
doubt that this is difficult work."
The Palestinians have strongly objected to Israeli plans to expand
settlements, especially in East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the
1967 war.
The US opposes more Israeli settlements and continues to remind
Israel that expansions violate the 2002 internationally-backed
roadmap peace plan, McCormack said.
"The fact that there are these continuing activities with respect
to settlement activity is a problem. We've talked to the Israelis
about that," McCormack said.
Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush national security adviser
Stephen Hadley are also expected to participate in the discussions.


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