Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Neither Israelis nor Palestinians
Cheap Jerseys China seemed hopeful about the possibility for real progress in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Tuesday.After three days of shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet every two weeks to discuss humanitarian and security issues -- but not the important political issues that divide them.At a Tuesday press conference, Secretary Rice put the best possible spin on Abbas and Olmert's agreement to meet: "They achieved something, which is the very regularised meetings between the two of them, in which they will not just talk about their day-to-day issues, but also about a political
NFL Youth Jerseys horizon," Rice said at a news conference. "Political horizon" is the buzzword Rice uses to refer to the vision of two
Cheap Jerseys For Sale states someday living side by side in peace and security.But one Israeli official made it clear that talks about "political horizons" were not the same as political negotiations needed to resolve the most difficult and contentious issues that would result in two states. Olmert is upset with Abbas for forming a unity government with Hamas, and Rice has admitted that the unity government is a "complicating" factor in the peace process. (The United States portrays Abbas as a moderate,
American Football Shop Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Whol, but now he's teamed up with the radical Hamas, which the United States lists as a terrorist group. Many Israelis say both Abbas and Hamas are bent on Israel's destruction.)Rice noted that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is decades old and difficult to solve. But she also said it's "not inconceivable" that a peace deal could be reached before the end of President Bush's term. Rice on Tuesday urged Arab nations to press for peace. "The Arab states must be reaching out to Israel...to show Israel that they accept its place in the Middle East," she said. An Arab League summit begins Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, and delegates at that gathering are expected to reaffirm their commitment to a 2002 peace initiative - one that Israel cannot accept because it calls for the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees.Israel says that flooding the Jewish State with millions of Palestinians would kill it, demographically
NHL Jerseys speaking. Dr. Saeb Erekat , a chief Palestinian negotiator, said Rice did a "significant job" in keeping the door open between the Palestinians and Israel. But Abbas' press advisor Nabil Amr said the Palestinians are disappointed with the outcome of their meetings with Rice. There is nothing new in what she said, Amr told the BBC.What peace process?A cartoon in Tuesday's Jerusalem Post portrays Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a mad scientist trying to breathe life into a dead peace dove.It's an apt metaphor,
NBA Jerseys For Sale Cheap Ni, some say.Dr. Dore Gold,
NFL Jerseys Supply Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesal, a senior advisor to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the director of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said the U.S. push for Israeli-Palestinian talks right now is "puzzling.""Both the local circumstances and regional situation are not particularly ripe," Gold told Cybercast News Service. "Locally, Hamas has the upper hand in the Palestinian unity government. Mahmoud Abbas has failed to live up to his obligations [to dismantle terrorist organizations]," Gold said.Regionally, the overall situation is "strategically unstable." Iran is ascendant and most of the Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia, are concerned Iran reasserting its military might, he said. Gold noted that some in the U.S. believe that by addressing the Palestinian issue, the Bush administration is lowering the level
NFLjerseys of "radical Islamic rage," which would be helpful in the war on terrorism.But Gold said the U.S. is not capitalizing on the shift that has
Cheap Jerseys occurred in Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim Arabs states, which increasingly share Israel's perception that Iran is a threat. Because of that shared "threat perception," Saudi Arabia should move forcefully against any Palestinian organization that has ties to Iran, as Hamas does. But instead, Saudi Arabia sponsored the Mecca Accords, which benefited Hamas by producing the "unity government," Gold noted.Gold said he's concerned that talk of a "political horizon" will begin to erode the phased principles of the road map -- particularly the clear demand that the Palestinians dismantle terrorist organizations before the two sides tackle other pressing issues. Prof. Barry Rubin, head of the Global Research Center in International Affairs at the Interdisciplinary Center near Tel Aviv, called it "remarkably amazing" that the U.S. is investing so much effort in "a situation where there is absolutely no hope of making progress."Bush wants to go down in history as the one who solved the Arab-Israeli conflict, he said.Rubin also said he believed that the push for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at this time is partly due to the U.S. interest in showing that it is involved and serious about the conflict as it seeks to gain support for its position in Iraq.But the U.S. is violating one of the "most basic principles of diplomacy," said Rubin, by engaging in "high level" diplomacy when it's likely to fail.Subscribe to the free CNSNews.com daily E-Brief.Send a Letter to the Editor about this article. Featured Video Horrors! It's Gov't 'Regulated Activity'Scary! Leno Tougher on How President 'Lied' About ObamaCare Than NBC ReportersOTJ: Priest Has Mass Blocked by U.S. Government E-Brief
