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Rice defends US on Mideast
19/07/2007 16:31 - (SA)
Lisbon - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday Washington remained committed to lead the Middle East peace process, and indicated it was opposed to expanding Quartet envoy Tony Blair's mandate.
"There is a lot of energy on the issues concerned with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and a real desire I think to move forward and to try and resolve it," Rice told journalists accompanying her on her flight to Lisbon, where she was to take part in a Middle East Quartet meeting.
Rejecting criticism by several European countries of Washington's "wait-and-see" attitude to the conflict and "immobility" in the region, Rice said "there is ... a political track that for a variety of reasons the US is committed to lead, in coordination with the Quartet."
"I don't think there is any larger objective than having a viable Palestinian state," she said.
Revive talks in the decades-old conflict
She hailed the Quartet's new envoy, former British prime minister Blair, as "a very skilled, respected, historic figure in many ways in the world who is absolutely dedicated to democracy, to build a better Middle East."
She appeared to reject however a call from several European foreign ministers, in an open letter published earlier this month, to expand Blair's mandate in the region beyond helping to mobilise international assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and to spearhead efforts to establish a Palestinian state.
"I think his mandate was made clear by the Quartet when they issued a statement and now when we meet. We will have an opportunity to talk more about that," she said.
The Quartet meeting, featuring UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in addition to Rice, were also expected to focus on US President George W. Bush's call Monday for an international conference within months to revive talks in the decades-old conflict.
- AFP
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