Rice Hopeful on Middle East Deal
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Rice expressed hope that a series of “building blocks” she’s nurtured will improve the lives of Palestinian Arabs even if they don’t reach a peace agreement with Israel by the end of the year.
Ms. Rice met with Israeli and Palestinian Arab leaders yesterday as she entered a last stretch of shuttle diplomacy to meet the goal President Bush set of hammering out a Middle East accord by the time he leaves office January 20.
“I can’t say absolutely they’ll get an agreement, but the idea that they have no chance of getting an agreement by the end of the year is absolutely not right,” Ms. Rice told reporters in Jerusalem after returning from talks with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Unlike the collapse of the peace efforts promoted by the Clinton administration that led to an armed uprising against Israel in 2000, Ms. Rice said she believes some of the “building blocks” of Mr. Bush’s Road Map plan to improve security, trade, and government institutions will enable Palestinian Arabs to build their own society.
