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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Rice revisits basics in Mideast talks

Paul Richter Los Angeles Times

JERUSALEM – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a new round of Mideast peace talks Sunday with an acknowledgment that her three-month-old initiative is starting slowly and going back over basic issues that divide Israel and the Palestinians.

Rice, who met Sunday with top Israeli and Palestinian officials, described her method as a “step by step” approach that requires spending time on such tasks as sitting patiently with leaders from both sides to learn their views.

“I haven’t been willing to try for the big bang,” she told reporters on the second day of a three-day Mideast trip. “I don’t think that’s where we are.”

Her comments underscored that her greatest challenge is to convince the world that the Bush administration is serious about trying to achieve a breakthrough on an intractable problem.

Many onlookers have suggested that her real goal is to show enough commitment to Israeli-Palestinian issues that she will win crucial support from Arab regimes to help restore Iraq and resist Iran.

She has visited the Middle East seven times in the past eight months, and her immersion in the deep weeds of the issue has raised questions about whether she is gearing up for the kind of “shuttle diplomacy” that preoccupied her predecessors.

Mideast diplomats and experts have been asking whether Rice really has had the support of President Bush, who in his first six years was averse to engaging in the intense efforts of his predecessor, President Clinton, and has been reluctant to press Israel to yield ground. Observers have pointed out that for months Bush had said little in public about Rice’s effort. In the United States and the region, some suggested that he might pull the plug on the enterprise if he doesn’t like where it’s headed.

However, the president last week voiced support for her mission, saying that the negotiations to create a Palestinian state with Israel’s assent were “a priority.” At the same time, the Bush administration has opened a small but real gap between its position and that of Israel – something that has happened rarely in the past six years.

U.S. officials have said they will deal directly with non-Hamas ministers of the new Palestinian unity government, potentially angering Israeli officials. And the Americans have said they will judge the Palestinian administration on its deeds and not just on declared positions that the U.S. finds unacceptable, such as its refusal to renounce violence or recognize Israel.

With Olmert insisting that his government won’t talk to Palestinians except on day-to-day issues, Rice decided to hold separate meetings Sunday with the Israelis and Palestinians, allowing each side to discuss its goals.

She met with Abbas in Ramallah during the afternoon and dined with Olmert at night. Today, she is scheduled to visit Amman, Jordan, where she will meet with Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II before returning to Israel for another round of talks there tonight and Tuesday morning.