Rice Offers Palestinians U.S. Help to Curb Violence


Reuters
 Date: 02-07-05

By Saul Hudson

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday the United States intended to appoint a security coordinator to help Israel and the Palestinians protect a budding peace process.

"I will later on today talk about the appointment of a security coordinator for the United States," Rice told a news conference after talks with new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

"The idea is to have someone who is responsible for helping the Palestinians on reform of their security forces, for helping with monitoring and not to supplant the activities and the efforts of the parties," Rice said.

The last monitoring group involved the CIA but it stopped its work after Palestinian militants killed three Americans in Gaza in 2003.

Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon hope to announce an end to hostilities at a summit in Egypt Tuesday marking a dramatic return to moves to revive a U.S.-backed peace "road map" envisaging a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

"We have agreed on a cease-fire with the Palestinian factions ... and we hope that we will get a positive response from the Israelis on a mutual cease-fire," Abbas told the news conference.

Earlier in Gaza, a spokesman for the militant Hamas group said it would "study the outcome of the summit" and then decide on its course of action.

Visiting the Middle East in a sign of new U.S. engagement in peace efforts following the death in November of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Rice said Washington would help Abbas build democratic institutions and reform security services.

U.S. WILL STAY THE COURSE

"There should be no doubt about the commitment of the United States to this process at this time -- no doubt about the commitment of the president, no doubt about my personal commitment," Rice said in Ramallah.

Rice's predecessor, Colin Powell, made infrequent trips to the area and was last in Ramallah in 2002

President Bush has pledged $350 million in aid to the Palestinians. Rice announced $40 million would be given to them within 90 days in a "quick action program" to help in job creation and rebuilding infrastructure. Rice called on both sides to the conflict to carry out their obligations to the peace process, citing a "fight against terrorism" by the Palestinians and "no unilateral changes to the status quo" on the part of Israel.

Rice said Israel was aware of U.S. concerns over the route of its controversial West Bank barrier, which Palestinians call a land grab and Israeli leaders say stops suicide bombers, and over Israeli "settlement activity" on occupied land.

"The larger point is that it is time for both parties to make their maximum efforts to give this chance for peace a real chance," Rice said.

"I have been encouraged by my conversations here and my conversations with the prime minister in Israel that in fact both parties understand the moment before them and understand their responsibilities," said Rice, who met Sharon Sunday.

Entering the Israeli-battered Muqata compound, where Arafat was confined for nearly three years, Rice's motorcade swept past Arafat's tomb without stopping.

The United States shunned Arafat as an obstacle to peace but Rice's visit showed the Bush administration was eager to bolster Abbas with concrete measures to support his efforts to rein in violence since his election last month.

During her two-day trip, Rice has also repeated a call for Israel to dismantle dozens of settlement outposts built in the occupied West Bank without Israeli government authorization.

Source

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