US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday wrapped up her about
24-hour trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, ending the mission, as
what she had put, to take advantage of "mutual opportunities" to advance the
two-state solution.
Despite the much fanfare and the newly-coined phrase, some former diplomats
and analysts in Israel were basically doubtful over the prospect of any
significant progress in the Middle East peace process.
URGING PEACE TALKS TO SEIZE "MUTUAL OPPORTUNITIES"
Earlier on Thursday, Rice travelled to Ramallah and met with Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas and the entire Palestinian caretaker cabinet, led by the
U.S.-backed prime minister Salam Fayyad.
It was the first time for Rice to visit the West Bank since Islamic Hamas
movement seized control of the Gaza Strip and captured pro-Abbas security
headquarters last month.
At a press conference with Abbas, Rice called for more and deepening
dialogues between the Palestinians and Israel "on all ofthe issues that will
lead ultimately to the founding of a Palestinian state."
She also told Abbas that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was "ready to
discuss the fundamental issues that will lead to negotiations soon," referring
to the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the
status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian borders.
Earlier on Wednesday, Rice had said her visit to Israel and the Palestinian
territories were aimed to "take advantage of mutual opportunities to advance the
two-state solution."
"This is a time to seize opportunities and it is a time to proceed in a
prepared and careful way, as one does not want to miss opportunities ... we have
to take advantage of what is before us," Rice told reporters after a meeting
with her Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni.
Livni echoed her appeal by saying that Israel would not miss the opportunity
to continue negotiations with the Palestinians.
In response to Rice's efforts, both Israel and the Palestinians had made
positive gestures by announcing that they would consider first working on
"principles" as the initial move toward a final peace settlement.
These "principles" would outline the contours of a future Palestinian state,
without immediately tackling those thorniest issues.
Rice, who arrived in Israel on Wednesday noon, had previously visited Egypt
and Saudi Arabia. Her four-day regional tour was aimed partly to rally support
for an American proposal to hold an international peace conference to push ahead
with the Middle East peace process.
On July 16, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed to hold an international
conference later this year that will group Israel, the Palestinians and some
neighboring Arab states to help resume the stalled Middle East peace talks.
To U.S. relief, Rice had largely persuaded Saudi Arabia, a heavyweight in the
Arab world without diplomatic ties with Israel, to participate in the proposed
peace conference.
"When we get an invitation from (Rice) to attend ... we will study it and we
will be keen to attend," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said after
Wednesday's meetings with Rice and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in
Riyadh.
SKEPTICISM LINGERING AMONG ISRAELI EXPERTS, FORMER DIPLOMATS
Despite the latest US efforts in pushing forward with the Mideast peace
process, including the rare U.S. duo visit, Israeli foreign policy experts
maintained basically skeptical.
They said that formidable challenges remained in the way to solve the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the current US administration would have a
limited impact on the Middle East peace process.
"The critical question is whether Israel and the Palestinian (National)
Authority are in a position to have meaningful negotiations on issues of
permanent status," former Israeli ambassador to the UN Dore Gold told the
Jerusalem Post.
"The hardest problem that the US will face is the weakness of Abbas in the
West Bank, an issue that probably cannot be ameliorated by money and guns
alone," Gold said.
He believed that a significant amount of time needed to be spent on building
institutions and civil society among the Palestinians before the West could
burden them with negotiations.
Alon Liel, former director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and
foreign affairs adviser to former prime minister Ehud Barak, is also skeptical
about the prospects for any progress in the Middle East peace process.
Liel's critique related to the US and Israeli attitudes to the changing
Palestinian polity, and the determination to focus on Abbas while trying to
maintain the boycott of Hamas.
"By doing so, and declaring half of the Palestinians good guys and half of
them bad guys, they are destroying the people. You can't build a country for
only half the people," Liel said.
Since mid-June when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip after defeating
Abbas' Fatah militants, the geographically-divided Palestinian territories have
been politically split into two parts-- with Hamas controlling Gaza and Fatah
holding the West Bank.
"At this point, I don't think we can move forward on the political level," he
said.
The only thing that could be accomplished right now "might be improving the
(Palestinians') humanitarian and economic situation. But for this we don't need
an international conference," Liel concluded.