RAMALLAH, West Bank – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday it was important for Israel and the Palestinians to establish a “common agenda” to move forward on creating a Palestinian state – an apparent break with Israel, which has ruled out peace talks for now.
Rice also said all the parties need to have a “destination in mind” to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But she conceded the sides were far apart, and had no specific proposal to get long-stalled peace talks moving.
Israel has said it will not hold peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas now that he his moderate Fatah Party formed a new coalition government with the Islamic militant Hamas group.
Rice said she would meet twice with both Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during her fourth trip to the region in as many months.
Rice said Sunday she is taking it slow and steady as she assembles the elements for what might be a new Mideast peace plan.
“My approach has been, I admit, careful,” Rice said, because too many past efforts have failed despite what seemed to be clear objectives. “It’s been step by step. I have not been willing to try for the big bang.”
Abbas met earlier Sunday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. But the U.N. chief shunned Hamas officials, dealing a setback to the new Palestinian government’s efforts to win international recognition. Rice snubbed even U.S.-backed moderates in the Cabinet.
While welcoming the new government’s formation, Ban said “the atmosphere is not fully ripe” for talks with Hamas, which has killed more than 250 Israelis in suicide bombings and refuses to recognize the Jewish state.
Abbas aides said he and Rice explored ways to get moderate Arab states involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace-making. A 2002 Arab peace initiative, which offers recognition of Israel in exchange for a withdrawal from all lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War, is to be revived at an Arab Summit next week.
In one proposal raised Sunday, a committee appointed at the summit would serve as a contact for the Quartet of Mideast mediators – the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia – as well as Israel and the Palestinians.
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