Rice Urges Hamas To Join International Consensus for Peace
03 October 2006
Calls for measures on Israeli and Palestinian sides to improve situation
Washington -- The immediate solution to the growing economic and political crisis in the Palestinian Territories is for the ruling Hamas party to join the consensus of the international community in support of a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Speaking to reporters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, October 3, Rice acknowledged that Hamas was duly elected, but she said it "has been unable to deliver for the Palestinian people."
The Hamas-led government has faced dwindling finances since the international community demanded that it renounce terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist before countries would release any additional aid to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas has yet to agree to those demands, and unrest is growing as government workers go without pay.
"Clearly, they cannot govern in a circumstance in which they cannot represent a responsible government before the international system," Rice said. "I think the answer politically is for the Palestinians to find a government that can be committed to the principles outlined by the Quartet but embodied in all of those international documents that have been accepted by Palestinians for decades."
The Quartet for Middle East peace, which comprises the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, articulated the international community’s demands to Hamas. As Rice pointed out, the Quartet’s principles are also reflected in a peace initiative from the Arab League.
She urged Hamas to respond to the overtures from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to form a unity government committed to the principles of a two-state solution as outlined in previous agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority.
Rice will travel to the Palestinian Territories later in the week to meet with Abbas and "talk with him about what more we can do to support him." She noted that the Quartet recently authorized a temporary aid mechanism bypassing the Hamas government to help alleviate the growing economic crisis in the territories. She also said she would talk to Abbas about strengthening his security forces.
The secretary said a resolution of some short-term problems would be "enormously helpful" in stabilizing the situation. On the Palestinian side, she called for release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Palestinian militants in June. On the Israeli side, she said, "I would hope that the Israelis can see their way forward to make some progress on movement and access for the territories because the economic situation in the Palestinian territories is, of course, made very much worse if there is not the ability to move through some of the crossings."
She said in the long term the best solution is a return to active engagement between the two parties, along with the international community.
A transcript of Rice’s comments is available on the State Department Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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