RAMALLAH, June 18: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday urged the Palestinian Authority (PA) to do much more to rein in militants as she warned time was running out to coordinate Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip.
“President Abbas has taken some good concrete steps towards security reform, but of course much more needs to be done, particularly to use actively the security forces to combat lawlessness and to combat terrorism,” Ms Rice told a news conference at the start of her first comprehensive Middle East tour as Washington’s top diplomat.
Ms Rice was speaking hours after a militant from Islamic Jihad was shot dead by Israeli troops while trying to storm a Jewish settlement in Gaza, disrupting an increasingly shaky de facto truce being observed by Palestinian factions.
With her talks focusing on the Gaza withdrawal, she said it was vital that both sides were able to reach agreement on issues related to the pullout such as border control, the distribution of assets and on security roles.
“These are all issues that need to be resolved before disengagement can begin,” she said. The issues ‘are very important ... and must be resolved’, she added.
“One reason I am here is to encourage the parties to actively now concretely solve these problems. There is no more time to simply put problems on the agenda. “This now has to be an active process of resolving these (problems).”
Mr Abbas told Ms Rice that his government was ready to fully coordinate with Israel on the withdrawal from Gaza following nearly 40 years of occupation, due to begin in mid-August.
“We have spoken of our commitment to reforms and peace, and we are totally committed to fully coordinate (with Israel) for a total and clean withdrawal from Gaza and the West Bank,” said Mr Abbas.
During their own talks with Ms Rice, Mr Abbas’s lieu tents had urged the top US diplomat to put pressure on Israel to open the borders of Gaza after the pullout.—AFP
