Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has promised to personally lead a “very active engagement” in the Middle East peace process, said Sunday that the United States would ask Israel to keep making “the hard decisions that must be taken in order to promote peace and to help the emergence of a democratic Palestinian state.”
At a separate appearance in Jerusalem, with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at her side, Rice said Sunday that it is a hopeful time, “but it is a time also of great responsibility for all of us to make certain that we act on the words that we speak.”
In a private dinner with Sharon on Sunday night, Rice also outlined “a possible security mechanism to help Palestinians build effective security forces,” according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. He did not elaborate other than to suggest it would require Israeli and Palestinian coordination, saying the proposal would “help Palestinians and Israelis in cooperating to end the violence.”
Rice is making her first visit here as secretary of state just ahead of what some hope could be a significant window of opportunity, opened by the death of Yasser Arafat last year and the peaceful transition of power yielded by Palestinian elections Jan. 9.
White House under pressure
As the Bush administration is seeking to ease tensions with important European allies, it is also under significant pressure from many of those same governments to get more engaged in the Middle East peace process after what some of them viewed as four lost years during Bush’s first term. Israel and the West Bank are Rice’s only destinations outside of Europe during a weeklong swing covering nine nations.
Rice is scheduled Monday to meet with the new Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and other Palestinian officials in Ramallah in the West Bank–discussions that will involve a proposed $350 million aid package from Washington.
On Tuesday, Sharon and Abbas plan to hold summit talks at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, an encouraging step given Sharon’s long refusal to deal with Arafat.
Rice’s visit with Israeli leaders was a decidedly low-key affair. In separate appearances, Rice posed for cameras and made brief public statements with Sharon and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. But they didn’t take questions from reporters or hold a joint news conference.
It was unclear whether Rice was trying to avoid stealing thunder from the upcoming Egypt meeting, which she will not attend, whether the Israelis were uncomfortable with the appearance of new pressure for peace from Washington, or whether other factors dictated the toned-down nature of Sunday’s meetings.
American and Israeli officials, echoing a comment Rice made Saturday, suggested there was no need for Rice and the Israelis to signal a major new engagement on behalf of the Americans, because Palestinians and Israelis already are working well together–on their own and with regional leaders. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will be host of the summit, which also will be attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
“We have no doubt that we are very involved with all of them at this point and that when our involvement needs to take on a different character, that we’ll do precisely that,” Rice said Saturday. “But I would hope that we would all get into a mindset that says if the parties are able to continue to move on their own, that’s the very best outcome that one could possibly have.”
During her confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jan. 18, Rice promised senators, “I expect–myself–to spend an enormous amount of effort on this activity.” She also said the U.S. would have a “very active engagement because we think this is a time of responsibility.”
News that Sunday’s dinner included a proposal from Rice about a possible new security mechanism for dealing with Palestinian militant attacks and Israeli responses represented what looked to be the first broad outline of a new initiative by the Bush administration. Efforts to rein in, consolidate and better train fractured Palestinian security forces are expected to garner a significant chunk of the $350 million in new aid Bush pledged for the Palestinians during his State of the Union address last week.
Possible new proposal
In an interview Sunday before her arrival in Israel, Rice hinted at a new proposal when she was asked how a possible cease-fire arrangement could be monitored and maintained.
She told CNN that if “there can be a period of calm in which there is not fighting, the most important elements will be to have some monitoring of that situation but also to take the most difficult steps that would really ensure its permanence. . . . And the United States will be very actively involved, both bilaterally and probably trilaterally, to try and stabilize the situation on the ground but also to help to bring about Palestinian security forces that can actually fight terror.”
