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Condoleezza Rice Says Prospects for Mideast Peace Have Worsened
(AP-Washington Post) Prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace are far worse today than when she left office, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday. "When you look at where we are now, we're a long, long way back from where we were," Rice said. She said she was disappointed by the new administration's handling of the delicate issue of new Israeli housing construction in the West Bank. "I do think focusing on settlements in that particular way was a mistake," Rice said. "The parties then were able to have a reason not to sit down." "When they're not talking, they're sliding backward." The U.S. long has opposed new settlements but largely looked the other way at some homebuilding, such as expansion of selected neighborhoods. Rice's new memoir of her time in Washington, No Higher Honor, published Tuesday, confirms then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's claim that he had laid out a comprehensive proposal for peace during secret meetings with Rice and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Rice said Abbas ultimately rejected the proposal.