By Stan Goodenough
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, appearing
increasingly desperate to see an Israeli-Palestinian
Arab agreement signed before her president leaves
office at the end of the year, reportedly used less
than diplomatic language speaking to a reporter last
Monday.
Both sides "need to draw a map [showing their
agreed-upon borders of Israel and "Palestine"] and get
it done," she said tersely, according to a report in
The Jerusalem Post Friday.
Rice was on her way back to Washington from a two-day
visit to Israel when she let her irritation show.
She appears to have failed in her quest on that visit,
where her brief was supposedly to try and get
something substantial for President George W. Bush to
work with when he arrives in Jerusalem next week.
Instead, after meeting with a newly-scandal-plagued
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and ineffectual PLO
terror chief Mahmoud Abbas, Rice was forced to leave
empty-handed.
Bush is due to arrive Wednesday on a 60-hour visit.
His schedule has him addressing the Knesset, meeting
with Olmert and Israeli President Shimon Peres, taking
a tour of Masada, hosting a reception in honor of
Israel's 60th Anniversary, which on the Gregorian
Calendar falls on May 14, and meeting with young
Israelis at a roundtable event.
Most importantly from his point of view the president
will, according to US National Security Adviser
Stephen Hadley "reaffirm his personal commitment to
peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and encourage
continuing efforts for a two-state solution, a
democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine living
side-by-side in peace and security."
Bush will also hold a meeting with the so-called
Quartet's special Middle East envoy Tony Blair, to
discuss how to push for the achievement of this goal.
On Friday, the president plans to fly to Saudi Arabia
next Friday to mark the 75th anniversary of formal
US-Saudi relations, and to hold meetings with Saudi
King Abdullah at his private farm, according to
Ha'aretz.
The rest of his tour has Bush traveling to Sharm
e-Sheikh for meetings with Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Sunday he meets Jordan's King Abdullah II, then holds
separate bilateral meetings with Palestinian Authority
Prime Minister Salaam Fayad and Lebanese Prime
Minister Fuad Saniora.
He will participate in the World Economic Forum in the
Sinai before returning to the US on May 18.
Original Source