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Now is time for Palestinian state: Rice
RAMALLAH: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushed Israelis and Palestinians Monday to reach concrete understandings ahead of a US peace summit that would advance the cause of a Palestinian state.
Confirming that an international meeting would take place in Annapolis, Maryland, Rice said it was time for a Palestinian state, which she described as essential and the highest priority of US President George W. Bush.
"Frankly it is time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," the top US diplomat told a news conference after meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank on her seventh visit to the region this year.
"The US sees the establishment of a Palestinian state, a two-state solution, as absolutely essential to the future, of not only the Palestinians and the Israelis, but also the Middle East," Rice said.
"We have got quite a long time to go but we are not going to tire until I have given my last ounce of energy and my last moment in office."
The international community is hoping that the US-hosted conference, which is expected to be held next month, will advance the Middle East peace process after almost seven years of deadlock.
"This is going to be a serious and substantive conference that will advance the cause of the establishment of a Palestinian state. We frankly have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," she said.
But Israel and the Palestinians heavily disagree on the content of a joint document, which newly appointed negotiating teams are charged with drawing up to serve as a basis for those talks.
The Palestinians want a detailed agreement and timeframe for implementing solutions to the thorniest issues in the conflict, while the Israelis want a more vague document with core issues left until after the conference.
"They are not going to try to solve everything in this November document, but it does need to be a serious and substantive and concrete document that demonstrates that there is a way forward," Rice insisted.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas have met four times in two months to prepare for next month's meeting. Their teams of negotiators were to meet later Monday to discuss key issues of the document, officials said.
After four hours of talks with Rice, Abbas said he asked her to "help us end all settlement activity, stop building the wall (Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank) and land confiscation."
Olmert said on Sunday that he was opposed to a timetable for implementing solutions to the thorniest problems of the decades-long conflict -- borders, refugees and the status of Jerusalem.
But Abbas took the opposite line. "They should not be open indefinitely. We need a timetable to be able to measure our achievements," he said.
"This is the most serious effort to end this conflict in many, many years. I know there is hard work ahead, I know there are compromises that will have to be made," Rice said.
"The president has decided to make this one of the highest prorities of his administration and of his time in office, means he is absolutely serious about moving this issue forward and moving it as rapidly as possible to conclusion."
Rice said she would be encouraging both sides to implement the first phase obligations of the roadmap, which include a halt to "terror and violence" and a freeze on Israeli settlement activity.
"They are in themselves a kind of reliable guide about how one might get to the establishment of a Palestinian state," she said.
"We need at this particular point in time to be certain to avoid any steps that would undermine confidence because the building of confidence is something that takes time," she added.
Rice said on Sunday that she would tell Israel during her meetings that recent Israeli orders to impound Arab land near Jerusalem erodes confidence.
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