Onderstaand bericht suggereert iets duidelijkere taal dan in de speeches die Livni en Olmert zondag gaven voor het Saban Forum.
___________________________
Israel's security seen as key to deal for Palestinian state
Reuters / Published: November 4, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/04/africa/mideast.php?WT.mc_id=rssafrica
___________________________
Israel's security seen as key to deal for Palestinian state
Reuters / Published: November 4, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/04/africa/mideast.php?WT.mc_id=rssafrica
JERUSALEM: Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, told Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, Sunday that any deal Washington hoped to broker for a Palestinian state would not be implemented until Israel's security was assured.
Rice is on her third visit to the region in six weeks. She is trying to bridge gaps between the two sides before the United States hosts a conference that is expected to take place in the last week of November in Annapolis, Maryland.
Israel and the Palestinians are still at odds over a joint document for the conference, which would serve as a starting point for negotiations on core issues ranging from borders to the fate of Jerusalem to millions of Palestinian refugees. Israeli leaders have insisted that any future agreement could be put into effect only after the Palestinians met their obligations under a U.S.-backed "road map" for peace charting reciprocal steps towards statehood.
The 2003 blueprint requires Palestinians to crack down on militants and for Israel to halt the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and remove dozens of outposts set up without Israeli government permission.
The Palestinians "need to understand that the implementation of future understandings would be implemented only according to the phases of the road map - the meaning is security for Israel first and then the establishment of a Palestinian state," Livni told reporters, with Rice at her side.
"Nobody wants to see another terror state in the region," Livni said, an indirect reference to fears that Hamas, the Islamist part that took over the Gaza Strip in June, could do the same in the West Bank, where the Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas holds sway.
Rice told Livni that she hoped her visit would help to "advance the work you are doing bilaterally with the Palestinians as well as continuing to plan for the Annapolis meetings."
Rice told reporters that it was very unlikely there would be agreement on a document during her two-day trip, during which she will also meet separately with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and Abbas.
"They are going through some knotty discussions, and I think those knotty discussions are going to continue for some time," Rice said Saturday.
Israel and the Palestinians are also at odds over a call by Abbas for a timeline to wrap up so-called final status negotiations for creating a Palestinian state.
Olmert opposes a time frame, cautioning that a failure to meet deadlines could deepen frustrations and touch off violence. But he has said that it was his goal to reach an accord before President George W. Bush ends his second term in January 2009. Rice was also set to meet with Tony Blair, the Middle East envoy and former British prime minister, and to make a speech in Jerusalem that was expected to encourage both sides to make bold compromises.
Rice is on her third visit to the region in six weeks. She is trying to bridge gaps between the two sides before the United States hosts a conference that is expected to take place in the last week of November in Annapolis, Maryland.
Israel and the Palestinians are still at odds over a joint document for the conference, which would serve as a starting point for negotiations on core issues ranging from borders to the fate of Jerusalem to millions of Palestinian refugees. Israeli leaders have insisted that any future agreement could be put into effect only after the Palestinians met their obligations under a U.S.-backed "road map" for peace charting reciprocal steps towards statehood.
The 2003 blueprint requires Palestinians to crack down on militants and for Israel to halt the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and remove dozens of outposts set up without Israeli government permission.
The Palestinians "need to understand that the implementation of future understandings would be implemented only according to the phases of the road map - the meaning is security for Israel first and then the establishment of a Palestinian state," Livni told reporters, with Rice at her side.
"Nobody wants to see another terror state in the region," Livni said, an indirect reference to fears that Hamas, the Islamist part that took over the Gaza Strip in June, could do the same in the West Bank, where the Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas holds sway.
Rice told Livni that she hoped her visit would help to "advance the work you are doing bilaterally with the Palestinians as well as continuing to plan for the Annapolis meetings."
Rice told reporters that it was very unlikely there would be agreement on a document during her two-day trip, during which she will also meet separately with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and Abbas.
"They are going through some knotty discussions, and I think those knotty discussions are going to continue for some time," Rice said Saturday.
Israel and the Palestinians are also at odds over a call by Abbas for a timeline to wrap up so-called final status negotiations for creating a Palestinian state.
Olmert opposes a time frame, cautioning that a failure to meet deadlines could deepen frustrations and touch off violence. But he has said that it was his goal to reach an accord before President George W. Bush ends his second term in January 2009. Rice was also set to meet with Tony Blair, the Middle East envoy and former British prime minister, and to make a speech in Jerusalem that was expected to encourage both sides to make bold compromises.
Israeli strikes kill 4 in Gaza
Israeli missile strikes killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Reuters reported from Jerusalem, citing local medical officials.
Israel said it had targeted militants firing rockets at its territory.
Palestinian officials said some of the dead were civilians.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten