Rice says US will defend Israel in peace process

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (L) shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during their meeting in Jerusalem. Olmert said he may be able to make peace with the Palestinians by the end of 2008 as the United States vowed to defend Israel's security during the difficult process.(AFP/GPO/HO)

I totally disagree with Secretary Rice on just about everything she stands for, but I do believe she loves her country and therefore, is a loyal American. So, as a loyal American, I wonder how she "really" feels about Israel, considering Israel's history of spying on her country and the upcoming AIPAC spy trial to which she must provide testimony.

by Ron Bousso Yahoo News - Nov 4, 2007

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday that the United States was fully committed to Israel's security in order for it to make bold steps towards peace with the Palestinians.

"All Israelis should be confident that America is fully behind you, that we are fully committed to your security and that you can thus be bold in your pursuit of peace," she said in a speech in Jerusalem.

"This is a time for us all to make difficult decisions for the sake of peace."

Rice gave the speech at Jerusalem's Saban Forum think-tank shortly after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who said Israel may be able to conclude a peace agreement with the Palestinians by the end of 2008.

Rice, on her eighth visit to the region since the begining of the year, warned that if peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians flounder, extremists would take over the Palestinian leadership.

"If we do not act now to show the Palestinians a way forward, others will show them a way forward," Rice said. "We can succeed. Failure is simply not an option."

Israel and the Palestinians have been engaged in intensive talks in an effort to draft a joint statement outlining a solution to the decades-old conflict ahead of a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland expected later this year.

The two sides plan to launch intensive bilateral talks on a permanent agreement following the international meeting, aimed at reviving a peace process that has been dormant for seven years.

The Palestinians have repeatedly demanded that the joint statement include a clear timetable for the negotiations, but Israel has insisted on a looser document based on a 2003 peace blueprint known as the roadmap.

"We agreed that if and when we reach understanding with the Palestinian Authority, this understanding will be implemented in accordance with the roadmap, on all its steps and outline," Olmert said.

"The Palestinians must fight terror and radically change their internal reality. I must recall that the roadmap requires measures from the state of Israel. These, like the Palestinian commitments, are yet to be applied."

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

But Olmert insisted that the blueprint is still worth pursuing. "I do not intend to allow the Palestinians to forego their commitments, and I have no intention, as hard as it is, to dodge Israel's duties," he said.

A key cabinet ally of the Israeli prime minister had already spoken of the government's readiness for a final peace deal with the Palestinians while Bush remained in office.

"We hope to agree a final settlement before the end of President Bush's term of office, or between now and the end of 2008," Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon told public television on Friday.

But Ramon stressed Israel would continue to resist Palestinian demands for a firm timetable for the negotiations on the most divisive issues of the Middle East conflict -- the borders of the promised Palestinian state and the fate of annexed east Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.