CAIRO: US diplomatic endeavors in the Middle East seem set to continue with the visit of National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley to the region next week on the heels of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who will also return to the region the week following Hadley’s visit.
Hadley’s visit was disclosed by officials traveling with Rice on her visit which ended Thursday to American reporters traveling with the delegation.
A senior State Department official told reporters that Hadley would meet Israeli and Palestinian officials to maintain the diplomatic flurry which the US hopes would lead the penning of a binding document on which negotiations can be based at a peace conference scheduled for the fall.
US President George W. Bush told reporters in Washington: “The reason why there needs to be a vision of what a state could look like is because the Palestinians that have been made promises all these years need to see there s a serious, focused effort to step up a state.
For her part, Rice said she had been encouraged by talks she had with the Israelis and Palestinians despite some obstacles and planned to return to the region in two weeks’ time.
And it appears the American efforts to indicate the seriousness of their intent has won over Arab support as both Egypt and the Arab League appeared won over after meetings with Rice in Cairo on Tuesday.
However, there were several caveats from Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa who told reporters after his meeting with Rice that, amongst other things, the onus should be on Israel to make the initial steps because the Arabs would no longer make concessions for no return.
“Israel should make the initial steps, he said, “the time of [Arab] donations is over, we will no longer do something for nothing. Israel needs to make the preliminary steps, because what can the Palestinians do? They are occupied and mistreated so what are they expected to do?
The Arab League chief also said that Syria was being taken into consideration in the process, despite American unwillingness to involve it in the conference. “Syria isn’t far from the Palestinian track and we talked about that [in the meeting with Rice], he said.
Moussa was supportive of the conference however, saying “the Arab position stresses the importance of an international conference, a serious one. There will be more discussions and talks. The upcoming period could be short if ill used and long if well used.
