07 January 2009
United States Welcomes Gaza Cease-Fire Proposal
Sustainable peace requires end to Hamas attacks, says Rice
Washington — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and members of the Arab League in welcoming a new cease-fire proposal to defuse the crisis in the Gaza Strip.
“We believe a cease-fire is necessary, but it has to be a cease-fire that will not allow a return to the status quo,” Rice told reporters January 7 outside the chambers of the U.N. Security Council in New York. “We are very much applauding the efforts of a number of states, particularly the effort that President [Hosni] Mubarak has undertaken on behalf of Egypt. We’re supporting that initiative.”
Rice traveled to the Security Council for an emergency meeting on the widening crisis facing 1.5 million Palestinians caught in the crossfire after Hamas’s decision to abandon a previous cease-fire agreement and step up rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israeli communities.
Hamas, designated by the United States as a terrorist group, has launched more than 500 rockets into Israel since December 27, 2008, while a 12-day Israeli security operation to suppress Hamas attacks has claimed more than 600 lives and injured more than 2,500 others in the densely populated territory, threatening to eclipse progress toward Middle East peace made since the November 2007 U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference.
As officials met in New York, Mubarak announced a new cease-fire proposal, negotiated with support from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, which calls for an immediate cease-fire to allow food and humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza and to allow Egypt to broker a more permanent peace with Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in June 2007.
“I’ve been in very close discussions with my Arab colleagues, but also with the Israelis, about the importance of moving that initiative forward,” Rice said.
While Abbas, who heads the internationally recognized Palestinian government from the West Bank, has expressed support for the Egyptian proposal, Hamas has yet to agree to the plan. But leaders of the militant group have stated that they would not launch rockets during Israel’s suspensions of security operations, according to news reports.
“It’s far too early to say we can get a breakthrough,” said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who joined Rice at the Security Council, along with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and other top European and Arab diplomats. “We’ve got to make sure that the actions on the ground and the actions in New York come together to help deliver the immediate and durable cease-fire that is so important.”
As leaders discuss the details of the proposed truce, White House spokesman Dana Perino said Rice held late-night talks with Israeli leaders, who then announced they would open a humanitarian corridor into Gaza and would begin suspending security operations for three hours each day to allow aid deliveries into the territory.
“We have deep concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Rice told reporters January 7. “I’m pleased that the Israelis were able to open a humanitarian corridor and to provide a pause for humanitarian action, but that needs to be repeated again and again because the people of Gaza need to be in a position to be able to get a lifeline to goods and to supplies, and to sanitation, and to medical help.”
“None of our countries would have been willing to tolerate such a circumstance,” Rice said of the security threat facing Israeli citizens, while noting that “the people of Gaza watched as insecurity and lawlessness increased and as their living conditions grew more dire because of Hamas’ actions.”
Moving forward, Rice said, the key to peace will be a return to normal life for the people of Gaza, by ending Hamas rocket and mortar strikes into southern Israeli communities; closing the network of tunnels used by Hamas to smuggle weapons into the territory; and reopening border crossings into and out of the territory — a measure sought by Hamas since its seizure of Gaza — and ultimately transferring border operations from Israeli to Palestinian control. (See “United States Proposes Three Elements in a Gaza Cease-Fire Plan.”)
The United States contributed $85 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza through the United Nations in 2008, Rice said, and is ready to offer more to help rebuild after peace has been achieved.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said his country, a recently elected member of the Security Council that has been active in Middle East mediation efforts, would be prepared to contribute to an international monitoring force in Gaza.
Rice extended her visit to New York for further consultations on the French-Egyptian cease-fire proposal, as well as with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
“We need very much to find a solution to this problem in the short term. But it really must be a solution this time that does not allow Hamas to use Gaza as a launching pad against Israeli cities,” Rice said. “The time has long since come when Palestinians who deserve to live in their own state should get that state and when Israelis who will live in peace and security when they have a peaceful neighbor should have that peace and security.”
A transcript of Rice’s remarks is available on America.gov.
