Israel tells Rice security comes before Palestinian state

AFP - Nov 4, 2007

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heard a strong message from Israel on Sunday that security must precede the creation of a Palestinian state, as she sought to bridge gaps ahead of a peace meeting.

Making her eighth visit this year for shuttle diplomacy between Israel and the Palestinians, Rice lowered expectations of rapid agreement on a joint document for the US-sponsored meeting expected later this year in Annapolis, Maryland.

"I think what you are really starting to see here is that people are starting to see Annapolis as the beginning of a process, not a single point in time," Rice told a group of journalists travelling with her.

"People are starting to address really difficult issues that they had not addressed in a long time," she added.

Israeli officials have said that negotiations should be based on a 2003 peace blueprint endorsed by the international community, insisting that Israeli security come before the creation of a Palestinian state.

"The roadmap should be the guiding principle for any further progress between Israel and the Palestinians," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Rice during their meeting, according to a senior Israeli official.

The internationally drafted peace plan has made next to no progress since it was adopted more than four year ago, and has already missed its first deadline for creating a Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure Israel.

The Palestinians, on the other hand, have pushed for a more ambitious document that addresses the most hotly contested issues of the conflict -- Jerusalem, borders, and refugees -- and sets a timetable for implementation.

"The negotiations are going to be difficult and challenging, but we have the desire and we have hope, and we are confident we will arrive at a good result," Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Sunday in a speech in Ramallah.

Israeli negotiators and their Palestinian counterparts have been divided for weeks over a joint document they are supposed to draw up for the meeting aimed at reviving the peace process after a seven-year hiatus.

Not a single word has yet been written for the conference document and wide gaps remain between Israel and the Palestinians, although both sides have agreed that commitment to the roadmap would be part of the statement.

Rice met Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, and international Middle East envoy Tony Blair before she was to address the Saban Forum think-tank in Jerusalem.

On Monday, she is to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, Ahmed Qorei who heads his negotiating team and prime minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank political capital of Ramallah.

The Palestinians have asked that Rice put more pressure on Israel, insisting that Israeli security will only come with a larger political settlement.

"The statements of some Israeli officials that consider Israeli security more important than the establishment of a Palestinian state hinder an agreement," Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.

"The establishment of a Palestinian state is what will guarantee the security and stability of the whole region," he added.

Abbas has called for a six-month deadline for a comprehensive deal with Israel, insisting: "We will not accept leaving these questions open for ever."

No firm date has yet been announced for the US meeting, and Arab powers likely to be invited to the conference have been sceptical about its chances of success without any serious effort to address the concerns of all involved.

The Islamist movement Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since a bloody takeover in which security forces loyal to Abbas were defeated nearly five months ago, has rejected the conference altogether.

"Its well-known goals are normalisation with the Arabs, the hardening of internal divisions and the preparation for the coming attack on Iran and Gaza and Syria and Lebanon," Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said on Sunday.

"It is a preparation to impose the roadmap, which means the disarmament of the resistance," he added.

Israeli air strikes and shelling killed four Palestinians in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Sunday, after militants fired three rockets toward the Jewish state, medical and security officials said.