US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's whirlwind tour of
Ramallah and Jerusalem was seen as a stepped-up effort by the Bush
administration to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process and build up a moderate coalition in the Middle East.
Bolstering Abbas against Hamas
Rice intended to support Palestinian National Authority Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas and, consequently, solidify a moderate alliance in
the region as a counterbalance to deal with Iran, Syria, Hezbollah
and Hamas.
Rice's tour came at a time when Abbas' Fatah movement has
engaged in a bloody conflict with the ruling Hamas movement. The
Fatah-Hamas street conflict spilled over the Gaza Strip and the
West Bank and claimed at least 12 lives and injured over 100. The
clash slip into the verge of a civil war.
Rice called for strengthening security forces loyal to Abbas.
Official sources revealed on Thursday that the United States has
allocated US$20 million for improving security around Abbas. The
plan was initiated by the US security coordinator, General Keith
Dayton, and presented during a meeting between Rice and Abbas.
While in a meeting with Rice in Jerusalem on Thursday, Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel was interested in
helping Abbas, and Israel would soon open the Karni commercial
crossing into the Gaza Strip as well as the Rafah crossing between
the Gaza Strip and Egypt for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
According to Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz, who met Rice
Thursday morning, Israel would ease humanitarian conditions in the
territories so long as it does not harm its security interests.
Building up moderate coalition
In an effort to rally moderate forces in the Middle East, Rice
also visited Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq.
"When Lebanon (conflict) happened, I think (we) got in very
stark relief a clear indication that there are extremist forces and
moderate forces," she told reporters as she was en route to Saudi
Arabia.
She said that "the countries that we are meeting ... is a group
that you would expect to support the emerging moderate forces in
Lebanon, in Iraq, and in the Palestinian territories. And so I look
forward to consulting with them on how we strengthen these forces
and what needs to be done."
On Tuesday, Rice met in Cairo with foreign ministers of six Gulf
Arab states, Egypt and Jordan in a mini-summit to coalesce moderate
Arab states in the region.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said that no
differences of opinion emerged during the meeting, since all the
participants are friendly states. "Our purpose is peace, stability
and development in the region. The aim is the establishment of a
Palestinian state," he added.
Pursuing tough stance against Iran
The United States claims that extremism in the Middle East poses
as much threat to itself as to moderate Arab regimes.
Shortly after landing in Saudi Arabia Tuesday morning to kick
off her Mideast tour, Rice told reporters, "The international
community will have no option but to force sanctions on Iran if it
does not suspend its uranium enrichment program."
"I hope that there is still room to resolve this," she said at a
joint news conference with Egypt's Ahmed Abul Gheit. "But the
international community is running out of time because soon its own
credibility will be a matter of question."
Rice said if Iran fails to comply with international demands, "
then the only choice for the international community is to live up
to the terms of resolution 1696 ... and that means to bring
sanctions."
(Xinhua News Agency October 5, 2006)
