English
Rice shifts position on ME peace prospect
 US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice |
US secretary of state says Palestinians and Israelis won’t reach a peace deal by the end of 2008, distancing herself from earlier positions.
On Monday, at the start of her 18th visit to the region in the past two years, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a broad peace deal between the two sides was a long shot before US President George W. Bush leaves office.
“I think it’s extremely important just to keep making forward progress, rather than trying prematurely to come to some set of conclusions,” Rice said, shifting from her past upbeat insistence to a more matter-of-fact assessment.
The two sides formally re-launched the peace talks after a seven-year gap at a US-hosted conference last November in Annapolis.
Washington initially sought to help clinch a final Mideast peace deal before President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.
But the core issues including the final borders, the fate of nearly 4.5 million UN-registered Palestinian refugees, some 11,000 prisoners, and al-Quds remain unresolved.
Israeli newspapers barely cover Rice’s frequent visits now because of the failure of the US-backed talks.
Israeli officials have been backing away from that timetable in recent weeks, and Palestinian officials have all declared the process fruitless.
Rice arrived in Tel Aviv after the release of 198 Palestinian prisoners earlier in the day which Tel Aviv says is a gesture of goodwill to Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas.
“The release of this group fills us with joy but we will not be satisfied until all prisoners are released, the 11,000 who are still waiting,” Abbas said in reference to thousands of Palestinians still in Israeli jails.
She is due on Tuesday to visit the US-backed Abbas in Ramallah after holding talks with Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister.
Subscribe=>
Source: PressTV More Top News
Hollywood heavyweights Robert De Niro and Al Pacino reunited on the red carpet in New York Wednesday night for the premiere of their new crime thriller “Righteous Kill” — their first film together since making 1995’s “Heat.”
The movie also stars
The Pakistani Army has been given orders to retaliate against any unilateral strike by the Afghanistan-based US troops inside the country.
Army Spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed the orders in a brief interview with Geo News on late Thursday night.
The
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he will not accept military action or new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities.
“We should not take any unilateral steps. It is not acceptable to opt for a military scenario. It would be dangerous,”
As the world marks the seventh anniversary of 9/11, some European experts say security improvements in the US have been undercut by fairly basic mistakes. Among the remedies is more trust in America’s laws and allies.
Seven years after the attacks
David Miliband has allegedly come in for a rather undiplomatic tongue-lashing from his Russian counterpart.
The Foreign Secretary was apparently given a furious dressing down by Sergei Lavrov over the telephone.
Mr Miliband’s criticism of Russia’s recent incursion into Georgia is believed
PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa - A South African judge ruled Friday that prosecutors were wrong to charge ANC President Jacob Zuma with corruption, effectively clearing way for the 66-year-old former freedom fighter to become the country’s next president.
Judge Chris Nicholson’s ruling
Thailand’s political turmoil deepened Friday when the ruling coalition failed to turn up to parliament to reelect leader Samak Sundaravej as prime minister.
Lawmakers from the six-party coalition did not attend an emergency session of parliament called to choose a prime minister, three days after a court stripped Samak of power for accepting payments for hosting