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Last update - 09:43 16/10/2007
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By Haaretz Editorial

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Israel on Sunday for another round of talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah, an attempt to formulate an agenda and a document of principles for the international peace conference scheduled to take place late next month.

The difficulties that have emerged through direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians do not discourage the senior U.S. diplomat. Rice is once again shuttling between the two parties, while stressing the importance she (and hopefully U.S. President George W. Bush) attributes to the Annapolis meeting and the dangers that failing at the current peace drive entail for the restoration of the peace process.

The visitor seems to have embraced the assumption that the Arab Peace Initiative and the rupture between Hamas and Fatah provide convenient conditions for achieving progress in the effort to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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She shares the opinion that diplomatic stalemate constitutes an invitation for the radical parties that have seized the Gaza Strip to tighten their grip on the West Bank. Following her meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas yesterday, Rice said the international peace process must be substantive. She also commended both sides for striving to shove aside their differences.

Rice does not content herself with promoting understandings between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas. Like some of her predecessors at the State Department, who had dipped their toes in the quagmire of the conflict, Rice is attempting to utilize Washington's prestige as a superpower and her personal influence to persuade the Israeli premier's coalition partners and party members to cooperate.

Rice has met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who does not hide his uneasy feelings concerning the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians. She has met with Shas Chairman and Minister Eli Yishai, who earlier this week proposed to turn the meeting at Annapolis into an economic conference. Rice listened to Finance Minister Roni Bar-On address concerns that dealing with core issues at Annapolis might topple the government.

As a historian who presumably has learned the origins of the oldest conflict in the Middle East, Rice was not overly impressed by the pessimistic forecasts regarding the Israeli government's stability nor by claims that the coalition would not survive far-reaching territorial concessions, including a compromise on Jerusalem.

In her meeting with the ministers, Rice reminded them that Israel has for dozens of years avoided the necessary move of addressing the core issues, and that a decision on the matter is now inevitable.

"Frankly, it's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Rice later said. Her words will probably not be greeted with applause from Israeli right-wing circles nor by Jewish and Christian groups that have influence over the Bush Administration's top brass and in Congress.

And for that reason, the visitor deserves double the congratulations for her perseverance in promoting the important task she has taken upon herself; preparing the ground and hearts for the unavoidable compromises on the way to dividing the land.
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  1.   It`s about time - or - Too little too late? 10:00  |  Natallie Durson 16/10/07
  2.   Peace initiative or new Israeli government ? 10:12  |  Andrew Watson 16/10/07
  3.   Why does the compromise not work? 10:32  |  Peter 16/10/07
  4.   ANYONE DIVIDING THE LAND WAS PUNISHED BY GOD:SADAT,RABIN,CARTER.. 10:46  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 16/10/07
  5.   Why there is no Pal state yet 10:47  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/10/07
  6.   #2 doesn`t understand how Israeli politics works 10:49  |  David Hoffman 16/10/07
  7.   This was inevitable 11:01  |  David Hoffman 16/10/07
  8.   whats the choice...? 11:22  |  ravi 16/10/07
  9.   # 4 - Thank you for the illustration 11:24  |  Peter 16/10/07
  10.   Re Andrew #2 11:29  |  Esther 16/10/07
  11.   idiocy at the top again! it repeats itself like spring and summer 11:41  |  victor hardman 16/10/07
  12.   Core issues when time is not on your side 11:48  |  sh 16/10/07
  13.   Dividing the land with Iranian nukes on the horizon 12:08  |  Jonathan S 16/10/07
  14.   Peter What you Regard as a Compromise is not a Compromise at All 12:10  |  Gil 16/10/07
  15.   #5 All so easy, isn`t it Jasmine? 12:13  |  Johnboy 16/10/07
  16.   More pungent BS from the editors- advocates of Itnatkut + Oslo 12:19  |  Dudu 16/10/07
  17.   Esther 12:22  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/10/07
  18.   #5, Jasmine, Palestinian statehood declared in1988 12:26  |  A Bethlehemite 16/10/07
  19.   To sh #12 12:33  |  David Hoffman 16/10/07
  20.   Sh- another point you had better consider 12:46  |  David Hoffman 16/10/07
  21.   Moral cowardice, with added lying 12:52  |  Rowan Berkeley 16/10/07
  22.   A VISION FOR THE PEACE TALKS (PART 1) 12:58  |  PeaceMaker 16/10/07
  23.   #3 Peter 12:59  |  Boycott 16/10/07
  24.   Thanks Bethlemite 13:02  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/10/07
  25.   #17 Jasmine Murphy 13:07  |  Boycott 16/10/07
  26.   Boycott 13:17  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/10/07
  27.   Haaretz is naive, as are all leftists! 13:28  |  Realism Strikes 16/10/07
  28.   Condoleezza thanks but not for this one. 13:30  |  Akram Zekaria 16/10/07
  29.   Johnny boy why did they ascquiesce? 13:34  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/10/07
  30.   Uniting Israel with the Middle East by "dividing the land" 13:34  |  Ivar 16/10/07
  31.   VISION SEQUAL 13:38  |  PeaceMaker 16/10/07
  32.   For bethlehemite 13:39  |  Star of David 16/10/07
  33.   For Andrew 13:48  |  Star of David 16/10/07
  34.   THERE NEVER BE A PALESTINIAN STATE 13:51  |  Petra 16/10/07
  35.   #26 Jasmine Murphy 13:51  |  Boycott 16/10/07
  36.   Which way is good? 13:52  |  Gene 16/10/07
  37.   WHAT ABOUT PEACE?! IT`S EASY TO DIVIDE LAND! 13:54  |  Tom Bell 16/10/07
  38.   Palestinian State 13:55  |  Hilda 16/10/07
  39.   ANOTHER VISION OF PEACE - HIROSHIMA 13:58  |  Petra 16/10/07
  40.   SECOND DIVISION OF LAND.WHEN WILL IT STOP? 13:59  |  Ian 16/10/07
  41.   ## Victor Hardhead aka Paul Harris 14:01  |  Labhras 16/10/07
  42.   Johnboy: being a pillock again 14:04  |  Star of David 16/10/07
  43.   Boycott 14:07  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/10/07
  44.   Labrat : u fishing again??!! 14:10  |  Star o David(is it?) 16/10/07
  45.   The Iron Maiden is twisting Israel´s arm 14:12  |  Hard Talk 16/10/07
  46.   His time is at hand, we all know, SO... 14:15  |  PeaceMaker 16/10/07
  47.   #24, Jasmine - Abbas is both 14:20  |  A Bethlehemite 16/10/07
  48.   Arabs 14:30  |  JJ 16/10/07
  49.   The cleverest remark made today by L A B H R A S ! 14:35  |  Labhras`s admirer 16/10/07
  50.   PETRA: some spirit you have there! 14:37  |  Hard Talk 16/10/07
  51.   #41thecomic labarse posing as irish[ new yorker] 14:38  |  victor hardman 16/10/07
  52.   God is very serious about not dividing..... 14:39  |  maria 16/10/07
  53.   Bethlemite 14:40  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/10/07
  54.   GERMANS OWN HAARETZ! 14:43  |  Menachem Ben Yakov 16/10/07
  55.   #40 Ian in Newcastle 14:44  |  Boycott 16/10/07
  56.   # 14 Gill 14:45  |  Peter 16/10/07
  57.   Star of Davie 14:51  |  Ibrahim 16/10/07
  58.   Suit the Words to the Action and the Action to the Words, Condy 15:03  |  Yaakov Sullivan 16/10/07
  59.   David Hoffman 15:06  |  sh 16/10/07
  60.   OH YES! HERE WE JUST TURN THE CLOCK BACK TO 1947/48 !!. 15:08  |  Kath` 16/10/07
  61.   Palestinian National Identity 15:11  |  Daybreak 16/10/07
  62.   Hard Talk (Post No. 45) 15:12  |  Johnny Weintraub 16/10/07
  63.   #43 Jasmine Murphy 15:15  |  Boycott 16/10/07
  64.   CON 15:18  |  NYorker 16/10/07
  65.   To VOICE of MOSHIAC # 4 - Punished! 15:19  |  Dagma 16/10/07
  66.   Why liberals always lose 15:23  |  Mark Lincoln 16/10/07
  67.   Rice - Not Nice to Pressure Allies To Endanger Themselves! 15:34  |  Ben 16/10/07
  68.   riot act 15:40  |  edgar 16/10/07
  69.   #48 Menachem Ben Yakov 15:47  |  Boycott 16/10/07
  70.   Re Mark Lincoln of Houston TX "Why liberals always lose" 15:47  |  Shlomo 16/10/07
  71.   sister maria on smoking hashish 15:48  |  Labhras 16/10/07
  72.   Mark lincoln 15:55  |  Danite 16/10/07
  73.   dagma....re. voice of moshiac........ 15:58  |  maria 16/10/07
  74.   kath` 16:00  |  maria 16/10/07
  75.   #62 Weintraub 16:03  |  Hard Talk 16/10/07
  76.   olmert says yes ....... 16:06  |  maria 16/10/07
  77.   Mark Lincoln.... 16:09  |  Tess 16/10/07
  78.   Jasmine Murphy @#5 16:10  |  akiva (zionist) 16/10/07
  79.   Boycott 16:15  |  Jasmine Murphy 16/10/07
  80.   Labhras has a new victim, Maria 16:18  |  Labhras`s Mammy 16/10/07
  81.   #65 Dagma; "punished" 16:20  |  Hard Talk 16/10/07
  82.   labhras.....oh well.......what can I say. 16:21  |  maria 16/10/07
  83.