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Rice: Carry Out Roadmap Obligations, Recognize Israel's Security Concerns

[State Department] Following talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Secretary of State Rice said Thursday: "Obviously, this is the beginning of a process and it's the most serious process that they've had in some time. And so I talked not only about the [joint Israel-PA] document but also about how they could, in advance of any meeting that would take place, enhance confidence that they are indeed moving to a new set of conditions. And that means carrying out phase one roadmap obligations." "While the document is important as a signal of intent, I think that the idea that somehow it's going to have to be...very specific on each of the issues, that that's not what they're looking for. And at one level, the more that they are pointed toward the day after November or December, the better." "I spent a lot of time on security issues...how would you envision the security of two states living side by side, because they're going to have to come up with a security concept between them. It's one of the problems that we're dealing with, frankly, in the Israeli population. And I heard it not just from the Israeli officials but from a broad range of Israelis. They had the withdrawal from Lebanon and it brought instability in Lebanon. They had the withdrawal from Gaza, and look what happened in Gaza. If, in fact, they're going to be asked to withdraw from the West Bank at some point, what does that mean for the security of Israel? That's a fair question. It really is."
2007-10-19 01:00:00
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