Condoleezza Rice Sees No Breakthrough in Talks to Secure an Israeli-Palestinian Statement Before Annapolis Conference

Rice Begins Five-Day Visit to Region

TEL AVIV, October 14, 2007 (WAFA)-

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, begins a five-day visit to the region Sunday in a bid to advance a joint Israeli-Palestinian statement ahead of the Annapolis peace conference at the end of November, Harretz reported Sunday.

U.S. officials have said in preparatory talks that the U.S. would not issue invitations to the summit before President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have formulated a clear joint document.

Rice is to meet Olmert Sunday to persuade him that the statement must be "concrete" and present a "diplomatic horizon" to the Palestinians, and not to make due with the general statement Olmert is said to want.

Rice would visit Jordan , Egypt, and the Palestinian territories to discuss preparations for the proposed peace conference.

US Secretary Rice to secure a joint Israeli-Palestinian statement

Sunday October 14, 2007 11:41 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies rami at imemc dot org

U.S Secretary of States, Condoleezza Rice arrives in Palestine and Israel today in preparation for the next month’s Annapolis peace conference for the Middle East, Washington called for earlier.

Ms. Rice is expected to first meet with Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert and his Palestinian counterpart, Salam Fayyad, later in the day.

Rice’s main concern is securing a joint Palestinian-Israeli statement before the peace summit commences, particularly because both sides have failed so far to reach a common ground on contentious outstanding issues.

The now top Palestinian negotiator, Ahmed Qurai', stated yesterday that unless Palestinians and Israelis reach an agreement, Washington will have to postpone the conference.

“if both sides fail to reach an agreement, the consequences will be grave”, Qurai added.

Palestinians had earlier believed that a period of six months is enough for both them and the Israelis to conclude a peace deal that tackles all outstanding issues, including the problem of Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem and borders of the future Palestinian state.

From his part, Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, did not abide by any timeframe to reach a final peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Whilst Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fateh, voiced his hope that the next month’s summit will bring concrete results, his Gaza-based deposed Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, warned him of ‘falling’ in what he termed ‘the American trap’

In 2000, a similar Washington-sponsored Palestinian-Israeli peace summit, known then as Camp David 2, failed to fill in the gap between the two sides, a failure that led to the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifiada ‘uprising’.

Rice Sees No Breakthrough in Talks

By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press Writer

Oct 14, 2007, 8:38 AM EDT

JERUSALEM (AP) --

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, played down expectations for breakthroughs as she opened a critical round of Mideast shuttle diplomacy Sunday. She urged Israel not to take any steps that might erode confidence in the peace process.

As she flew into the region from Russia, Rice said she hoped to help narrow gaps between the Israelis and Palestinians, who are trying to forge an outline of an eventual peace deal in a joint statement to be presented at a U.S.-hosted international conference next month.

But even before her meetings began, Israeli (occupation government) prime minister, Ehud Olmert, antagonized the Palestinians by hinting that such an outline wasn't necessary for the conference to go ahead. The Palestinians said that without such a document, they would skip the meeting altogether.

Rice said she did not believe her visit would produce the joint Israel-Palestinian statement or bring it to a point where invitations for the conference, expected to be held in Annapolis, Md., in late November, could be issued.

"I don't expect out of these meetings that there will be any particular outcome in the sense of breakthroughs on the document," she told reporters aboard her plane.

At the same time, she said she would urge Israel in particular not to do anything that could threaten the meeting, following its renewal of a road plan that Palestinians fear is intended to tighten Israeli control over strategic West Bank areas near Jerusalem.

Rice said Israeli clarifications that the project was not imminent and meant to ease Palestinian movement did little to ease concerns.

"We have to be very careful as we are trying to move toward the establishment of a Palestinian state of actions and statements that erode confidence in the parties' commitment to a two-state solution," she said.

Rice said she would shuttle between Israel and the West Bank over the next three days to "help them narrow differences that they may have about what the nature of this document has to be."

Speaking to his Cabinet Sunday, Olmert suggested a major difference existed when he hinted Israel did not see a peace deal outline as a crucial element of the meeting.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the Palestinians would not allow Olmert to use the conference as a public relations stunt.

"Without a document to resolve this conflict, we can't go to the conference next month," he said.

"Olmert is looking for a public relations conference and one that will allow normalization with Arab countries," he said. "We will not help him in this."

To build Arab support for the conference, Rice will also make a stop in Egypt on Tuesday and cap her trip in London on Thursday to see King Abdullah of Jordan who will be in the British capital. A planned stop in Amman, Jordan, was canceled because he would not be there.

A key measure of the success of the conference will be how far the sides move beforehand toward resolving key areas of (final status), like final borders, sovereignty over (occupied) Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees.

So far, the two sides are at odds over how detailed that peace deal framework should be, and both say no written agreement has been forged on any of these issues.

Israel is pressing for a vaguely worded document that would give it more room to maneuver. The Palestinians, by contrast, want a detailed preliminary agreement with a timetable for creating a Palestinian state.

Rice said she would be looking for "clarity on where the parties see themselves in the negotiations on their bilateral statement" that she said should at least touch on the key "final status" issues.

"I do think it's important that they address the core issues in some fashion," she said. "I also think it's important that the document be substantive enough that it points that there is a way forward toward the establishment of a Palestinian state."

Rice, on her third visit to the region since the Hamas takeover in Gaza, would not rule out presenting suggestions for the two sides to consider but refused to say what those might be.

In recent days, Palestinian officials have said an agreement is nearer than ever, and that swapping Israeli territory for West Bank land could solve the contentious issue of (illegal Israeli) settlements in the West Bank.

Olmert has said the time has come to stop letting excuses get in the way of peacemaking, and a top ally has been publicly discussing a subject that was long taboo - sharing sovereignty in Jerusalem.

Still, the road project and the two sides' disagreements on the refugee issue are clouding prospects for success.

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