RAMALLAH, 16 October 2007 — The time has come for establishing a Palestinian state and it’s in the interest of the US to do so, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday in one of her most forceful statements yet on the issue.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiation teams are drafting a joint declaration of principles that may offer solutions to some of the core issues of the final status agreement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Rice.
Abbas and Rice met in Ramallah to discuss issues ahead of the US-sponsored Mideast peace conference and held a joint press conference following the meeting.
The comments from Rice suggested that the Bush administration is determined to try to bridge the wide gaps between Israel and the Palestinians.
The gathering is expected to take place next month, though a date hasn’t been announced. Amid such uncertainty, moderate Arab countries, whose participation is widely viewed as critical, have not committed to attending.
Tensions arose Sunday when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet that he didn’t regard a joint declaration of principles for a future peace deal to be a prerequisite for the conference. The Palestinians said that without such a document, they wouldn’t attend the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland.
Rice suggested yesterday that she was siding with the Palestinians on the need for such a document, but was cool to their idea, raised again by Abbas, to set a deadline for reaching a final peace deal.
“I am not certain that a timetable that says we have to complete X by Y time is where we want to go,” she told reporters.
She said a joint document “does not have to be detailed in order to be serious.” She reiterated that “we frankly have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op.”
The US has said it wants a substantive working paper dealing with all the key disputes before the start of the conference. The issues include borders, the status of disputed Jerusalem, Israeli settlements and Palestinian refugees.
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Ahmed Qorei, has said one or two sentences outlining a solution for each issue would be sufficient. Concerning Jerusalem, for example, he said it would be enough to declare that West Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine. The line of division would then be determined in negotiations.
Olmert hinted yesterday that he is ready to share control of the holy city, saying that Israel could do without controlling some of Jerusalem’s outlying Arab neighborhoods.
Olmert’s top ally, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, has made such statements in the past, but it was the first time Olmert adopted this position. Agreement on the principle of division, without discussing the actual lines, could be sufficient for a joint declaration.
Later yesterday, the Israeli and Palestinian drafting teams were to meet in Jerusalem, Qorei’s office said. The teams had met only once before. It was not clear whether Rice would join them at some point.
In Ramallah, standing next to Abbas, Rice defined Palestinian statehood as a US interest.
“Frankly, it’s time for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Rice said.
“I wanted to say in my own voice to be able to say to as many people as possible that the United States sees the establishment of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution as absolutely essential for the future, not just of Palestinians and Israelis but also for the Middle East and indeed to American interests,” she said. “That’s really a message that I think only I can deliver.”
She said US President George W. Bush has made ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a top priority of his administration. Rice praised Israel and Palestinians for making their “most serious effort” in years to end the conflict. Olmert and Abbas have held a series of meetings in recent months, and the two sides have appointed negotiating teams to hammer out their joint vision for peace in time for the gathering. Abbas said he has asked for US help in halting Israeli settlement expansion and the ongoing construction of Israel’s West Bank separation wall.
The Palestinians have protested recent Israeli land expropriations for a West Bank road project. They fear the land seizures are meant to tighten Israeli control over strategic West Bank areas near Jerusalem that they claim.
Addressing such concerns, Rice said: “I have said we need to at this particular point in time be certain to avoid any steps that would undermine confidence because the building of confidence is something that takes time.”
Rice is on a four-day shuttle mission, trying to create some common ground ahead of the Mideast meeting. A State Department official hinted on Sunday that the conference might be postponed. However, Abbas aides suggested yesterday that the gathering would at most be rescheduled for early December.
— With input from agencies
