Rice: Palestinian state would boost Israel security

By Sue Pleming

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice arrived in Israel on Sunday declaring a Palestinian state
would enhance the Jewish state’s security.

Speaking to reporters en route from Saudi Arabia, Rice said
she would use a speech later on Sunday to demonstrate that
change was taking place rapidly in other parts of the Middle
East and Israel and the Palestinians should follow suit.

“I will talk about the changed context in the Middle East,”
she said, referring to Libya’s decision to abandon weapons of
mass destruction, Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon, the ousting
of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and tentative reforms in Saudi
Arabia and Egypt.

She spoke of the changed environment in Israel and the
Palestinian territories, with the death of Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat a year ago and Israel’s successful withdrawal
from the occupied Gaza Strip in September.

“A Palestinian state would indeed enhance Israeli
security,” Rice said.

Asked what she would request of the two sides during her
trip, Rice said the Palestinians needed to tackle militants
ahead of January’s parliamentary election and said a democratic
state could not be built when organizations remained armed.

“The need to deal with the infrastructure of terrorism is a
road map obligation,” she said referring to a U.S.-backed peace
plan setting out steps for a Palestinian state alongside a
secure Israel.

Rice said she would also make clear to the Israelis that
they had to be aware of the consequences of their reaction.
“The Israelis have very important road map obligations and we
will talk about that, too,” she said.

“Israel should do nothing to prejudge final status or the
outlines of a final settlement. The parties have now had the
habit of cooperation in the Gaza withdrawal and it is in our
hope that they are going to continue to build on that.”

Israel has failed to meet its own road map commitment to
freeze Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.

NEW POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

Rice’s trip to Israel coincides with political change there
and one senior State Department official said this could make
it harder for the United States to push the peace agenda.

Amir Peretz, a socialist and head of Israel’s workers
union, beat veteran peacemaker Shimon Peres last week to become
leader of the left-wing Labour party, which joined Sharon’s
coalition earlier this year to push forward his Gaza pullout
plan.

“We may be walking into a political bargaining period. We
are just not sure what all of this means yet,” said a senior
U.S. State Department official, who declined to be named.

Peretz has said he would press Sharon this week to call for
Israeli parliamentary elections as early as March and the
Americans fear this will further dampen peace hopes which have
been stalled by violence.

“What we don’t want here is to be kept in a holding
pattern,” added the senior U.S. official.

Rice also wants to resolve access problems into Gaza which
the United States says is holding up economic development there
since Israel’s withdrawal.

“There are a few details, a couple of sticking points to be
worked out on this access issue, but we have been making
progress,” said an official traveling with Rice.

But he said Rice would not push for a “quick fix” and
Israel’s security could not be jeopardized. “It’s more
important to get this right rather than doing it too quickly,”
said the official.

Former World Bank president and special Middle East envoy
James Wolfensohn is in the region trying to iron out these
problems and one U.S. official said he was close to a
breakthrough. “But he’s not quite there yet.”

During her visit to Jerusalem, Rice will address the Saban
Forum of the U.S.-based Brookings Institution and is also set
to attend a memorial to mark the 10th anniversary of the
assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

After visiting Israel, she will make a stop in Jordan to
pay her respects after last week’s hotel bombings which killed
57 people. She then travels to Asia where she will join U.S.
President George W. Bush for a meeting of APEC leaders.