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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Tuesday. (AP)
Last update - 22:58 04/03/2008
Bush says optimistic Israel-PA peace deal possible in 2008
By Barak Ravid and News Agencies
Tags: Israel, Gaza 

U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday he remains optimistic there will be a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of his presidency, despite broken-down negotiations.

"Ten months is a long time. There's plenty of time to get a deal done," Bush said after White House talks with Jordan's King Abdullah, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the region seeking to salvage the battered U.S.-sponsored peace push.

Bush said the goal of U.S. diplomacy was to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table, while Rice earlier urged Israel and the Palestinians quickly to resume talks.
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"I'm optimistic and will continue to work hard to achieve the vision," Bush said. He insisted the United States "is engaged and will remain engaged" in the Middle East peace process.

The United States and Israel have blamed the violence on Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from Abbas' forces in June, and say the Islamist group is trying to wreck Palestinian statehood talks between Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The American president said Rice was pushing the Israeli and Palestinian leadership to resume talks, hours after Rice urged leaders from the two countries to sit back down at the negotiating table.

Rice also said earlier Tuesday that she believed that a peace deal was possible by the end of the year.

Speaking at a news conference after meeting Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Rice gave no indication, however, that she had secured the Palestinian leader's agreement to return to talks.

Abbas told the news conference he wanted a "complete truce" in the Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has carried out raids against militants it says are planning attacks.

Rice said: "I still believe that that can be done," by the end of Bush's term. She added: "We look forward to the resumption of those negotiations as soon as possible."

Abbas said 20 children had been among dozens of civilians killed in Hamas-controlled Gaza in Israel's five-day assault, its most powerful in the territory since it withdrew settlers and its army in 2005. "I call on the Israeli government to halt its aggression in order that we can afford the necessary atmosphere to conduct the negotiations," Abbas said, without setting any timeframe for resuming the talks on statehood issues.

He added that he still aspired to a deal this year but blamed the hiatus on Israel. No one can justify the killing actions of the Israeli army
over the past few days," said Abbas, who also called for his
Hamas rivals to stop firing rockets into southern Israel.

Rice, too, demanded that Hamas, which routed Abbas's Wstern-backed forces in Gaza last year, cease the rocket attacks.

"There has to be an active peace process that can withstand the efforts of rejectionists to keep peace from being made, the people who are firing rockets do not want peace," Rice told reporters in Cairo. "They sow instability, that is what Hamas is doing."

"Hamas is doing what might be expected, which is using rocket attacks on Israel to arrest a peace process in which they have nothing to gain," Rice said.

"Negotiations ought to resume as soon as possible," she said, adding that any lengthy suspension of talks handed victory to Hamas, which seized control of Gaza last June and whose stepped up rocket attacks into Israel preceded the latest offensive.

Experts say Rice faces an uphill battle to revive the peace talks -launched to much fanfare last November, in Annapolis, Maryland with the goal of getting a Palestinian statehood deal before the Bush administration's term ends in January 2009.

"I continue to believe that they can get to a deal by the end of the year if everybody has got the will to do it," said Rice, adding implementation of a deal would take a lot longer.

She dismissed sceptics who have predicted the Annapolis process will fail without including Hamas and that U.S. attempts to isolate Gaza will ultimately backfire.

"It is going to have its ups and downs. There will be good days and bad days and even good weeks and bad weeks. I am going to talk to the parties about staying focused on what needs to be done here," she said.

Tuesday evening, Rice met with Olmert in Jerusalem. The meeting was closed to the press.

Rice and Olmert discussed the need to renew the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The two also discussed possible solutions to the issue of the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Hamas wants to supervise but Abbas rejects the Islamist group's efforts to gain control.

Rice was scheduled to meet with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday.

Olmert to tell Rice: Israel wants to renew talks

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was set to tell Rice on Tuesday that Israel wants to renew talks with the PA quickly.

Olmert, who is said to have been disappointed in the PA announcement on the suspension of negotiations, will reportedly ask Rice to urge the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who visited Israel
Monday, proposed that the Israelis open a dialogue with Egypt and the PA as soon as possible toward clinching a "package deal" on Gaza.

He said an overall agreement of this type could include new security arrangements on the Philadelphi route, the reopening of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, a solution to the matter of the Israel-Gaza crossings and an attempt to reach a cease-fire with Hamas through Egyptian mediation.

Solana also said that such a dialogue should not be conducted in a way that would be "an achievement for Hamas."

In light of recent calls by some European countries to immediately open the Gaza Strip crossings, Livni told Solana that Europe should not take any action that could be construed as a victory for Hamas. Livni gave a briefing to foreign ambassadors on Monday, telling them that when talking about "collective punishment" it should be remembered that Sderot and Ashkelon are also experiencing collective punishment.

Related articles:
  • Abbas offers to mediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas
  • Palestinian killed in IAF strike on rocket squad in northern Gaza
  • White House blames Hamas for sparking violence in south Israel
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      1.   TO WHAT PURPOSE? 03:07  |  Mark of Lewiston 04/03/08
      2.   Olmert has turned Israel into a bananna Republic 03:24  |  Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 04/03/08
      3.   USA, Bring Your Psychotic Child Under Control. 05:12  |  Reader 04/03/08
      4.   Ehudm On your knees and beg your masters for it yo 05:27  |  Max 04/03/08
      5.   rice 05:33  |  mark 04/03/08
      6.   Olmert is an Idiot with Rice holding his prostate 06:01  |  Sal 04/03/08
      7.   rice: this visit as USELESS as the first visit 06:08  |  neutral-dikky 04/03/08
      8.   #2: you got it backwards, pal 06:12  |  cross-eyed 04/03/08
      9.   you know... 06:13  |  after-thought 04/03/08
      10.   Moon is made of green cheese, Rice announces 06:52  |  Marie 04/03/08
      11.   Rice --Olmerts balls are in your court 07:22  |  Sal 04/03/08
      12.   2008 OR 2080? 07:44  |  indrajaya 04/03/08
      13.   end of what year? 08:11  |  vik 04/03/08
      14.   Yes let`s give all the aid we can to people who want to destroy u 08:21  |  Daniel 04/03/08
      15.   The solution to their distress and misery. 08:23  |  Jean Van Daem 04/03/08
      16.   RICE GO HOME! 08:29  |  Wise Saba 04/03/08
      17.   THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST IS COMING TO TALK TO THE TERRORIST.. 08:35  |  TRUTH SEEKER 04/03/08
      18.   RICE SHOULD ASK MUBARAK WHY/HOW IRANIAN MISSLES ARE BEING 09:09  |  WARRIOR 04/03/08
      19.   rice violates US constitution on religion 09:12  |  sam 04/03/08
      20.   #8 hypocrite, who israel has usa missiles? 10:27  |  rpg29 04/03/08
      21.   The peacetalks did not move before the Gaza 10:50  |  Kris 04/03/08
      22.   20 lessons on how to make a complete fool of yourself 11:20  |  v hardman 04/03/08
      23.   "collective punishment" ? EU phrase,that`s all 11:52  |  Bardon 04/03/08
      24.   Rice is clueless 12:17  |  American Christian 04/03/08
      25.   The Gaza "Bombshell" 12:19  |  Fred 04/03/08
      26.   Madame Secretary, Dr. Rice. You are my gal. 12:29  |  Stephen. 04/03/08
      27.   Absolutely no chance of peace, now or ever 12:54  |  spyguy 04/03/08
      28.   She`ll extract a bakseesh from Israel to the pals 13:44  |  Absolute Sweden 04/03/08
      29.   Tell her to go home 13:49  |  petra 04/03/08
      30.   #27 No peace while rockets keep firing into Israel 13:56  |  petra 04/03/08
      31.   Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 13:56  |  A Priest 04/03/08
      32.   For Spyguy # 27 13:58  |  Clickfool 04/03/08
      33.   Max # 4. 13:59  |  Maximum 04/03/08
      34.   # 14 14:04  |  American Tax Payer 04/03/08
      35.   rice you are wasting your time 14:23  |  jay 04/03/08
      36.   Is Rabbi Yakov Lazaros correct? 14:26  |  sandra chitayat 04/03/08
      37.   Rice is wasting time 14:29  |  Brod 04/03/08
      38.   To A Priest # 31 14:33  |  dovale 04/03/08
      39.   Condi Rice 14:38  |  Hilda 04/03/08
      40.   Rice Is Really Out To lunch 14:40  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/03/08
      41.   Of course Olmert wants to hold renewed talks 14:46  |  Chelm Wimp 04/03/08
      42.   And Just What Exactly Is To Be Achieved, Miss Rice? 14:48  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/03/08
      43.   Behind the Scenes with Condy 14:54  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/03/08
      44.   Condy, was the IRA a terrorist organisation?? 15:01  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/03/08
      45.   Who should move 15:11  |  American Christian 04/03/08
      46.   Rice is beating a dead horse of a Peace Plan 15:11  |  * BEN JABO 04/03/08
      47.   Well researched piece in Vanity Fair confirms what everybody knew 15:17  |  lakshmi 04/03/08
      48.   Bardon of NY and Failed Policies 15:19  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/03/08
      49.   Rice go home 15:24  |  Harold 04/03/08
      50.   A joke for Secretary Rice 16:03  |  Proud Israeli 04/03/08
      51.   Rice: make love not war 16:04  |  Lou 04/03/08
      52.   A Bowl of Rice with your Peace 16:08  |  Ori 04/03/08
      53.   to #13 16:11  |  MR 04/03/08
      54.   Condoleeza Vs Condolences 16:15  |  Mary 04/03/08
      55.   #14 Daniel, you forgot something 16:17  |  MR 04/03/08
      56.   that`s a green light to israel to finish off hamas. 16:25  |  frenz 04/03/08
      57.   #47 Lou - Rice making love? 16:27  |  * BEN JABO 04/03/08
      58.   Rice, there is no peace without US pressure on Israel. 16:28  |  Michael 04/03/08
      59.   In 2008? 16:37  |  Jonathan 04/03/08
      60.   Rice and fantasyland 16:54  |  Brod 04/03/08
      61.   Re-50 Condoleeza vs Condolences 16:59  |  American Christian 04/03/08
      62.   # 36 Yaakov Sullivan...let`s not forget the 2000 17:04  |  Lynn 04/03/08
      63.   Rice looking perturbed.... 17:09  |  Lynn 04/03/08
      64.   To No. 31, a priest 17:09  |  American Christian 04/03/08
      65.   No Deal! 17:13  |  Mark Katzman 04/03/08
      66.   Peace With Who??? What`s she smoking in her Nargila 17:14  |  B`Galil 04/03/08
      67.   Enough of isreali farse 17:19  |  kaled 04/03/08
      68.   Turning point to israel 17:33  |  mimo 04/03/08
      69.