Condappeasa: Israel Must Do More For Palestinians. Olmert, Livni Agree

Matthew Lee of the Associated Press reported on a speech given Tuesday by Secretary of 'Lets-Give-'em-a-State' Condappeasa Rice to a Palestinian investment forum held at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"The parties need to redouble their efforts," Rice said ...

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"Israel must also halt settlement activity which can be seen as prejudging the outcome of negotiations and undermining its negotiating partner," she said.


"And while there have been some lowered restrictions to access and movement, more progress needs to be made in order for Palestinian businesspeople and workers to be able to conduct business in an environment in which they can thrive," Rice told the audience, which included Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

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In her speech, Rice vowed that she would continue to work hard to meet the year-end deadline, although she acknowledged that "there are many challenges" still to overcome.

"We must do everything that we can with the negotiating partners to get to the Annapolis solution and that would be to find an agreement between these parties by the end of the year," she said. "It is very difficult, there's a hard road ahead, but if we do not try, we almost certainly will not succeed."

"Until that moment when I leave office, I will leave no stone unturned to see if we can finally resolve this conflict," Rice said.

Apparently the government of Israel is not committing suicide fast enough to suit the State Department. It's not for lack of trying.

In an interview published September 29, 2008 in the UK Guardian, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said

"We have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, the meaning of which is that in practice we will withdraw from almost all the territories, if not all the territories."... "We will leave a percentage of these territories in our hands, but will have to give the Palestinians a similar percentage, because without that there will be no peace."

Olmert said the withdrawal would have to include parts of east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 war.

"What I am saying to you now has not been said by any Israeli leader before me. The time has come to say these things."

Give me a break. 'These things' have been said, off and on, since 1967. Mr. Olmert's successor, Ms. Tzipi Livni shows every sign of continuing the slow death spiral. The BBC reported in September 2008 that

Ms Livni, 50, a lawyer, former Mossad agent and mother of two, has moved from a strongly Zionist nationalist background to become a passionate advocate of a land-for-peace deal with the Palestinians.

Hang in there, Condappeasa. You may yet see the demise of Israel before your term ends in January.