RAMALLAH, West Bank, 6 November 2007 — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed hope yesterday that a Middle East peace deal can be reached before President George W. Bush leaves office. After talks with Abbas in the occupied West Bank, Rice said she hoped a planned peace conference in the United States could be the “launching pad” for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations leading the way to a Palestinian state.
“Negotiations that I sincerely hope, as (Israeli) Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert said last night, that could achieve their goals in the time remaining in the Bush administration,” she said. Rice met Palestinian leaders one day after talks in Israel on her eighth visit to the region this year in a bid to advance efforts to revive full peace talks through an international peace meeting expected by the end of 2007.
“Everybody’s goal is the creation of a Palestinian state... Everything that we’re doing, meetings and conferences and all of those things are to achieve as soon as we possibly can the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” she said.
“All the parties agree and are determined to reach an agreement before the end of Bush’s term in office and we are determined that this serves as our deadline and we are working toward that,” Abbas said. The Palestinian leader said progress was being made in preparations for the US-sponsored conference, for which no date has yet been set.
“There is progress in the preparations with a view to launching final-status negotiations at the Annapolis conference and to transform them into a real chance to launch a significant peace process,” he said. Abbas praised Bush and Rice’s “determination” to reach a peace agreement before the US president bows out in January 2009.
Meanwhile, Olmert did not rule out the release of additional Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian Authority ahead of the conference, sources in his office said yesterday.
The sources told Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot that other gestures such as removing roadblocks in the West Bank and expediting the deployment of Palestinian security officers in the Palestinian cities would also be weighed.
Six months ago, during the Sharm El-Sheikh summit, Olmert pledged to remove the military roadblocks in the West Bank, which prevent the free movement of Palestinians. However, the Israeli security establishment has objected to such a move for fear of increased terror activity in the area.
In recent months Israel has twice freed Palestinian prisoners, as a gesture of good will meant to bolster the position of Abbas. A total of 250 prisoners were released on the eve of the summit at Sharm el-Sheikh in June, and 90 more in September, for the holy month of Ramadan.
Palestinian Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs Ashraf Al-Ajrami said in response that up till now there are no formal talks about releasing Palestinian prisoners or detainees.
Ajrami said that the Palestinian side wants to release Palestinian prisoners through negotiations with the Israelis to determine standards for releasing them.
