Rice Encourages Peace During Visit to Middle East

Rice Meeting with Palestinian and Israeli Officials
Late on Saturday, Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State of the U.S., met with the Israelie Foreign Minister. On Sunday she plans to see President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority, in Ramallah on the West Bank.

Rice has not approached with any new U.S. plans or proposals, and insists that peace cannot be an American-made decision. She wants to work with both sides, however, to accelerate the progress of the "Roadmap" to Israeli-Palestinian peace, a decision launched in 2003, which has largely not been reached.

According to reporter David Gollust, Rice expressed her intentions to help accelerate the peacemaking process thus: "I do believe that talking with the Palestinians today

Rice is determined to talk openly with both sides and to do what she can on behalf of the U.S. to help the Israeli and Palestinian sides to reach and follow a peace agreement. The Bush administration has been trying to assist in various ways, including standing behind Palestinian Authority chief, Abbas, in his clashes with the violent Islamic Hamas movement. The Bush administration has confirmed $86 million to go towards training and equiping programs under Abbas; however, they insist this plan will not be fueling the intra-Palestinian conflict.

Rice Plans Meetings with Other Middle Eastern Leaders
Before returning to the U.S., Ms. Rice plans to meet with leaders in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, as well as with Jordanian King Abdullah, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Embarrassing Journalism Incident
One embarrassing incident during the talks and reporting occurred when an American reporter asked Condoleezza Rice a question when she was meeting with Foreign Affaris Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem on Saturday. The reporter asked her to comment on statements made in the U.S. regarding Rice's martial status, as to whether or not this impaired her judment and decisions regarding Iraq (to which Rice replied that this did not hamper her ability to understand and make good judgments).

The reporter went on to attribute Livni, the Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, with being single. However, Rice corrected the journalist and pointed out that Livni was married with children. Everyone in attendance seemed embarrassed by the incident altogether.