Secy. Rice: Israel Must End Occupation of 'West Bank'
(IsraelNN.com) Speaking with Arabic-language Radio Sawa, based in Washington and Dubai, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice went further in her demands on Israel than President Bush did in his recent speech on Israel.Rice, about to depart for the Middle East to prepare an upcoming international meeting of regional leaders, said that President Bush recently stated "very clearly that Israel's future will rest in Israel, in places like Galilee and in the Negev - and that the occupation of the West Bank will have to end, and a Palestinian state will need to be established."
In fact, however, in his recent speech, President Bush did not phrase this as a demand upon Israel, but rather cited Prime Minister Olmert as having "made clear that Israel's future lies in developing areas like the Negev and Galilee - not in continuing occupation of the West Bank. This is a reality that Prime Minister Sharon recognized, as well. So unauthorized outposts should be removed and settlement expansion ended."
Pres. Bush also stopped short of saying Israel must withdraw from all of Judea and Samaria. Bush said rather that future Israel-PA negotiations must "lead to a territorial settlement, with mutually agreed borders reflecting previous lines and current realities, and mutually agreed adjustments."
By stating so clearly that the "the occupation of the West Bank will have to end," Rice has set a new standard for United States officials of her stature in opposition to Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria.
Secretary Rice did not deal with the question of what to do with the 500,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria and the outlying neighborhoods of Jerusalem beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders. Israel has not yet been able to solve the problems of the fewer than 10,000 Jews it evicted from Gaza two years ago; those Jews are still living in transient camps of temporary pre-fab houses, with no long-term housing or employment solutions in sight.
Maybe Arutz Sheva got it wrong. Condi couldn't really have said such a thing. But she did. From the State Department's own transcript of the interview:
QUESTION: You and the President, you spoke new language on asking Israel to end occupation. Do you think this will convince the Saudis to be a more active player in the coming international meeting that you are going to host?SECRETARY RICE: Well, I certainly hope that all interested states, states that are devoted to the two-state solution, will look favorably on the international meeting that the President will call. We have work to do. There's preparation to do. There are no invitations that have gone out yet and I want to talk to our allies in the region and our friends in the region about how they see and what they would see to be a useful international meeting.
But the President is just following in the very important tradition that he's begun. He was the first to call, as a matter of policy, for a Palestinian state, for a two-state solution. He was stating very clearly that Israel's future will rest in Israel, in places like Galilee and in the Negev, and that the occupation of the West Bank will have to end and a Palestinian state will need to be established.
Later in the interview she says,
"The United States doesn't want Made-in-America solutions."
The last question was [gag me], "What would you like to be remembered by at State Department?"
Oh, I'll worry about history a little bit later. I've still got 17 months of very intensive work. I hope that in the Middle East we can make real progress on helping the forces of moderation in the Middle East, helping democratic forces in the Middle East. You know, the Middle East is a wonderful region with energetic people, people who are proud, people who want the best for their children. They don't want to live in a world in which young people are encouraged to be suicide bombers. I believe that the people of the Middle East want a better and more prosperous future.And in the next 17 months, I expect to be fully devoted to ... helping the Palestinians get at least closer to statehood so that Israel and Palestine can live side by side, helping Lebanon to continue its progress toward democracy and sovereignty, to helping the people of Iraq to put aside their differences and build stability, and to doing what the United States has always tried to do, which is to stand for principle and to help friends who want nothing but a better and more democratic life.
See also these major findings of a recent poll, posted at Elder of Ziyon -- revealing the opinions of those "proud" and "energetic" Palestinians who Condi believes "want the best for their children."
- 77% support the kidnap of Gilad Shalit
- 67% want more kidnappings of soldiers
- 80% oppose releasing Shalit to avoid a ground incursion into Gaza
- 60% support further Kassam rocket attacks against "targets"
And then there's this news in the Washington Times. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center,
... support for suicide bombings is widespread among Palestinians, the report said, with 41 percent asserting that such attacks are often justified while another 29 percent say they can sometimes be justified.It found that only 6 percent of Palestinians — the smallest percentage in any Muslim public surveyed — say such attacks are never justified.
PLUS, there's the question of what Condi intends for the 500,000 Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, you know, the people who live in places like...
Ariel: population 18,000
... and Beitar: Ten minutes south of Jerusalem, just 700 yards past the Green Line, Beitar Illit has seen a nonstop population boom since its inception in 1990. A community that started with forty-five families has blossomed into a city of 35,000 people. This is one of the fastest-growing cities in Eretz Yisrael.
Here's a peek at Israel's future, as conceived by Condi ...
"in places like Galilee...
... and in the Negev."
Hey, look on the bright side: Condi used the words "Israel" and "future" in the same sentence. That's gotta count for something, even though today is already worse than yesterday.
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