Talks Among Israel, Palestinians, U.S. Set for February 19
06 February 2007
Meeting designed to discuss immediate concerns as well as political future
Washington -- Talks involving Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are scheduled to take place February 19 and will be “an initial opportunity” for Olmert and Abbas “to start a discussion about those issues that would concern the framework of a possible Palestinian state,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says.
McCormack said February 6 that the agenda of the talks and the venue still are being worked out. “Each side will have various issues that they will want to bring up,” such as security, checkpoints, economy and trade, and political questions such as borders, he said.
“This is their first opportunity to discuss these in more than six years,” McCormack said. “We would hope that this venue would be one that the Israelis and Palestinians would avail themselves of into the future as they work on the day-to-day issues.”
The meeting likely will take place in the Middle East, he said, and Rice probably will make several stops during her trip, including the West Bank city of Ramallah. McCormack said the secretary will have a bilateral agenda with both sides in addition to her participation in the trilateral meeting.
Although Rice plans to take the trilateral process “one step at a time,” she continually will be encouraging both sides to reach understandings, he said.
“She has committed publicly to dedicating her focus and energies to trying to lay a foundation so that one day the Israelis and the Palestinians can realize the dream of having two states living side by side in peace and security.”
The spokesman expressed appreciation for Saudi King Abdallah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud’s mediation efforts in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, between the Palestinian Fatah and Hamas groups and urged “all responsible parties in the region to make every effort they can to help bring down the level of violence,” saying “ultimately it is the innocent civilians who get caught in the crossfire, who pay the price for that violence.”
The Palestinians need to make “hard choices” to reduce the violence and “resolve the fundamental political contradictions within their system,” he said.
McCormack also said the violence between the Palestinian factions should not preclude opportunities for them to advance peace efforts with Israel or to address daily issues between the two sides such as security at checkpoints and border crossings.
For more information on U.S. policies, see The Middle East: A Vision for the Future.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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