Rice sets goal of ending Israeli-Palestinian strife

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Israelis and Palestinians on Monday to compromise on a plan to jump-start peace negotiations, describing the ending of their long conflict as one of the top goals of President Bush in the 15 months he has left in office.

A day after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Rice traveled here to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, who urged Rice to lean on Israel to address a variety of grievances and lay out a detailed plan to resolve the status of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jerusalem and other elements of the conflict.

When she emerged for a joint news conference after meeting with Abbas for nearly three hours, Rice chose only to reiterate her past admonition that both parties should avoid steps that “undermine confidence.” But she voiced confidence that the international peace conference Bush has called for this fall would be both serious and substantive.

“Frankly, we have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op,” Rice said, officially confirming for the first time the badly kept secret that the conference is to be held in Maryland.

“I hope you understand,” she added, “that the president has decided to make this one of the highest priorities of his administration and of his time in office. It means that he is absolutely serious about moving this issue forward and moving it as rapidly as possible to conclusion.”

Rice arrived here this week facing deep skepticism among Arabs and Israelis about such lofty statements, especially given what many here regard as the administration’s past disengagement from the issue – a position Rice flatly rejected Monday.

Rice is trying to nudge the Israelis and Palestinians into agreeing on a yet-undefined document that could help launch the peace conference – perhaps followed by final negotiations.