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Rice Holds Talks With Palestinian Premier

Posted on: Monday, 17 May 2004, 06:00 CDT

BERLIN - National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice met Monday with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia in talks that are part of a fresh push by Washington to bring about Palestinian statehood and restore movement to Mideast peace efforts.

Rice, who held the talks during a trip that also is focusing on Iraq, renewed U.S. backing for a Palestinian state ahead of the meeting.

She said in a television interview Sunday that she would tell Qureia the Palestinians must build "accountable political and economic institutions" under a prime minister with full authority.

"We are ready to be full partners with the Palestinians in doing that," she told Germany's ARD television. "We need movement from the Palestinians on those elements of the road map."

Neither Rice nor Qureia made any comment as they arrived for Monday's talks at the U.S. ambassador's residence in suburban Berlin. Qureia had met with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Jordan on Saturday.

At a news conference Sunday before returning to Washington, Powell suggested that Palestinian and other Arab leaders should persuade Yasser Arafat, symbol of the Palestinian movement for almost four decades, to quit as head of the Palestinian Authority to make way for a successor willing to end terror against Israel.

He counterbalanced criticism of Arafat with a sharp jab at Israel, criticizing long-standing Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian homes to punish attacks. Powell said he doubted the tactic enhances Israel's security.

"We don't think that is productive," Powell said at the World Economic Forum. "We know Israel has a right for self-defense, but the kind of actions that they're taking in Rafah with the destruction of Palestinian homes, we oppose."

He was referring to the refugee camp at the center of fighting that left 13 Israeli soldiers and more than 30 Palestinians dead last week.

Iraq also was on Rice's agenda in Berlin, which included a meeting with national security advisers from 10 European countries.

U.S. administration officials said the focus was the scheduled June 30 transfer of power to an interim Iraqi administration, the need for a new U.N. Security Council resolution and increased international participation.

Rice discussed Iraq with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow over the weekend.

"It is absolutely critical that we keep our word to the Iraqi people that on June 30 they will receive sovereignty," Rice said in the ARD interview.

With the handover, "they will be fully sovereign in making their own decisions, and that is as it should be," she said.

The new U.S. push for progress in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking follows President Bush's support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's controversial plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and some of the West Bank. Sharon's Likud Party later vetoed the plan.

At his meeting with Qureia Saturday, Powell urged the Palestinian prime minister to seize the opportunity in Sharon's proposal to evacuate all soldiers and the 7,500 Jewish settlers from the coastal Gaza strip.

Powell said Qureia had agreed to look at whatever refinements Sharon makes in his proposal, following its rejection by Likud hard-liners.

Palestinian officials said Sunday that they are ready for a cease-fire with Israel as a first step toward reviving the stalled U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said he made the proposal during the talks with Powell.

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