Israel Matzav

Condi Clueless' last visit?

Condi Clueless visited Jerusalem and Ramallah on Friday in what may be her last visit to the region as Secretary of State. She tried to put on a game face as she went through a press conference with 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen. But if there is eventually a 'settlement' between Israel and the 'Palestinians' the new administration will get 'credit' and not this one. Let's look at some of what Condi and Abu said at their press conference.

"The distance to that peace has been narrowed, although the peace has not yet been achieved," Rice said in a joint news conference with Abbas. "We knew ... that if that agreement was not reached by the end of the year, that there would be those who would say that the Annapolis process, the negotiations, had failed."

"In fact, it is quite the opposite. The Annapolis process has laid the foundations for the eventual establishment of the state of Palestine," she said. "The Annapolis process ... is vital, it is vibrant, and it is continuing, and I am quite certain that carried to its conclusion, it will produce a state of Palestine." [Nothing like a 'negotiation' with a pre-determined outcome, is there? CiJ]

Rice held out hope that a peace agreement is not too far off.

"While we may not yet be at the finish line, I am quite certain that if Palestinians and Israelis stay on the Annapolis course, they are going to cross that finish line and can do so relatively soon," she said.

Abbas also said the past year has not been in vain.

"We have not lost time. We have used every minute," Abbas said. "That will allow us to move with a new (US) administration and a new Israeli administration to peace."

He urged the incoming US administration "to start immediately dealing with the Middle East issue ... so as not to waste time, without any benefit."

"We hope that the new administration will follow up on this and hear this point of view," he said.

The Obama administration takes office on January 20, 2009. Abu Mazen's term is up on January 9, 2009. Funny that the JPost article from which this is taken only mentions changes of government in the US and Israel, isn't it? I guess that doesn't matter. The 'Palestinians' demand to destroy Israel doesn't change no matter who is in power.

Oh yes, speaking of the Post, note that the leftward tilt they displayed in the closing days of covering the American elections is going to continue into the Israeli elections:

Earlier Friday, Rice met in Jerusalem with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and with Netanyahu.

Netanyahu later said he's proposing a "new path to peace that will combine political negotiations with rapid economic development for the Palestinians."

However, Netanyahu's positions could make a peace deal harder to achieve, since he's willing to make fewer territorial concessions in the West Bank than the current government and opposes a partition of Jerusalem.

We don't want Israel electing anyone who might have red lines, do we?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:09 PM