Israel and Palestine committed to peace, says Rice
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that her meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders convinced her both sides share a commitment to ensuring Israel’s upcoming withdrawal from Gaza takes place smoothly and peacefully.
Rice spoke at a news conference after two days of meetings with top officials from both sides intended to spur co-operation on the withdrawal.
“Israel and the Palestinian Authority share a commitment to ensure that disengagement happens smoothly, without violence,” she said.
If the withdrawal from Gaza and four settlements in the northern West Bank can be accomplished in an orderly way, it can build trust between the two sides that can create better conditions for peace efforts after the pull-out, she said.
Both the Israelis and Palestinians agree that the homes in the Gaza Strip settlements should be destroyed when Israel pulls out this summer, and they will need to work together to figure out how that will happen, Rice said.
“The parties agree that they have to work this out in a co-operative way,” she said. “The view is that there are better land use possibilities for the Palestinians that can better address their housing needs.”
But she said the two sides still have to discuss what to do with the greenhouses and other commercial assets the Israelis have built in the settlements.
The two sides also agreed to work to ensure that Palestinian goods and people are able to flow into and out of Gaza after the pullout so the Palestinian economy, battered by more than four years of violence, can be revived, she said.
“The US cannot make the disengagement work, only the Israelis and Palestinians can make the disengagement work,” she said.
Rice stressed that the pull-out, which will be the first time Israel has withdrawn from land Palestinians claim for a future state, is a historic step.
“This is not easy and the next several months ahead of us are complicated and consequential to the future,” she said.
Rice added that she was optimistic the two sides would be able to co-ordinate the withdrawal less than two months before it is scheduled to begin.
“I saw a commitment on the part of the Israeli government to make the disengagement work, to make it work with their Palestinian partners, to do whatever is necessary to move it along,” she said.
“The key now is that a lot is at stake for the state of Israel, a lot is at stake for the Palestinians and a lot is at stake for the international community.”
Rice is visiting Israel at a time when relations are strained by a dispute over Israel’s sale of military technology to China.
