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US May Support Israel's Unilateral Borders: Rice
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"I
would not on the face of it say ... that we do not think there is any
value in what the Israelis are talking about," Rice said. (Reuters)
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BERLIN,
March 30, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The United
States signaled on Thursday, March 30, the possibility of supporting
Israel's unilateral moves to fix borders without consultations with
the Palestinians.
"I
would not on the face of it say ... that we do not think there is any
value in what the Israelis are talking about," US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice told reporters traveling with her to Berlin,
Reuters reported.
Acting
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose Kadima party won the Israeli
elections, intends to unilaterally set Israel's permanent borders
without consultations with the Palestinians.
Olmert
said Israel will hold on to large Jewish settlement blocks in the
occupied West Bank, dividing Palestinian areas and making it almost
impossible to create a contiguous and viable Palestinian state.
Rice
said US officials had not discussed with Olmert his idea of using the
separation wall along the West Bank to set Israel's permanent border
with or without the Palestinians.
"But
we can't support it because we don't know. We haven't had a chance to
talk to them about what they have in mind," she said.
Rice's
remarks contrasted with previous US statements warning Israel against
doing anything that would prejudge negotiations on the border or other
final status issues.
Arab
governments believe more unilateral steps by Israel to retain control
over occupied Palestinian territories would kill stone dead any peace
chances.
Hard
to Imagine
The
top US diploma cited what she called Israel's "coordinated
unilateral withdrawal" of the Gaza Strip last year.
"Of
course everyone would like to see a negotiated solution, that is what
the roadmap is about," she added.
Israel
unilaterally withdrew from the impoverished Strip last September under
the "disengagement plan" of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon, now in coma.
Rice
said a negotiated solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was
hard to imagine with Hamas now in power.
"If
you are going to have a negotiation you have to have partners and the
Palestinian government does not accept the concept of a negotiated
solution," she said.
Rice
added that Washington would see what it could do to increase
humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
"We
are trying to be as generous as possible to the Palestinian people
because we know they have severe humanitarian needs.
"We
have said from the first day that we are not going to cut off food
assistance, refugee assistance or medical assistance."
The
US and the EU have threatened to cut off aid to the Palestinian
Authority once a Hamas-led government is in place.
Rice
said Washington would stay in touch with President Mahmoud Abbas.
"I
think that he is still someone who stands for the aspirations of the
Palestinian people and a peaceful resolution of the
Palestinian/Israeli conflict."
The
Bush administration has already ordered its diplomats and contractors
to cut of contacts with the Hamas-led government.
Canada
decided on Wednesday to suspend aid and contacts with the Palestinian
government, becoming the first donor country to take such a move.
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