October 15, 2007

Rice: Palestinian Statehood Now

In a sign that the Bush administration views a two-state Mideast solution as a critical accomplishment before the clock winds down to 2009, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that now was the time for the Palestinians to achieve statehood.

"Frankly, it's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Rice said today during a visit to the West Bank.

Rice appeared to indicate that she had grown weary of the negotiations process, which has been fraught with leadership changes and other stops and starts since President Bush rejuvenated Washington's role there in 2003.

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are meeting in Jerusalem today to draw up an outline of a peace deal ahead of a major conference tentatively set for next month.

Somewhat ironically, the highly anticipated Mideast summit in Annapolis, Md., may be postponed as negotiators on both sides get down to business. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today hinted he would be willing to cede Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem, wiping a potential sticking point off the table.

Also paving the way to an actual deal is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in whom Washington sees an earnest broker after decades of dancing around former PLO President Yasser Arafat. A rift between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and the more extremist Hamas threatened to halt negotiations altogether, but Hamas has recently indicated it may cede control of the Gaza Strip, in a bid to not be left out of a future Mideast peace agreement.

In an instance of unfortunate timing, the U.N. human rights envoy for the Palestinians blasted the Mideast peace process and called for the United Nations to abandon the Quartet of negotiating partners.

"In my most recent report to the General Assembly, which I will present later this month, I will suggest that the secretary-general withdraw the U.N. from the Quartet, if the Quartet fails to have regard to the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories," John Dugard told BBC News in an interview. The U.N. has been famously contemptuous of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, prompting a rebuke from Bush at the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month.

In her press conference alongside Abbas today, Rice praised both sides for making the "most serious effort" toward a peace agreement in years, and stated yet again that such a deal was a top priority for the administration in its final months. At the same time, she made it clear to both parties that Washington expected substantive progress on the joint declaration ahead of the U.S.-hosted summit.

"We frankly have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," she said.

Posted at 12:14 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, Fatah, Hamas, Israel, Middle East, Palestinians, President Bush, U.N.
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