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<font size=3>Rice's repetitive visit <br>
<a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1111" eudora="autourl">
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1111<br>
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</a>(Ramallah) Rashid Hilal <br>
Thursday, 30 November 2006 <br><br>
Today's meeting between President Abbas and US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice did not “move forward with humanitarian issues,” as she
preferred to say. <br><br>
The eastern West Bank city of Jericho hosted a meeting of repetition.
There was nothing to talk about as the US "plan" has just not
worked out. Destroying Palestinian democracy by imposing a blockade until
the people discard the elected Hamas party has not had the desired
effect. There is no new government that the US or Israel might find more
pliable. <br><br>
The suffering of the Palestinians is not alleviated, the US has not
lifted the political and economic blockade that is destroying society.
The unity government formation has reached a dead end and the West Bank
is under closure and attack, divided from within by barriers,
settlements, and “closed military zones.” The Israelis are running wild
with impunity and the US vetoed the latest UN resolution condemning them
for the massacre in Beit Hanoun. <br><br>
Above all, the assassinations remain. The arrest campaigns are on the
rise, as are the daily raids of towns and villages. But the American
concern is not for the 10,500 political prisoners in Israeli jails. It is
for the one Israeli soldier captured while invading the southern Gaza
Strip on 25 June 2006. <br><br>
The only achievement that the US Secretary of State and President Abbas
could talk about was the 'cease-fire' which is a misnomer as it does not
include the West Bank where daily attacks continue, with Israeli forces
killing two Palestinians on its first day. <br><br>
Palestinian Legislative Council deputy and Chairman of the Political
Committee in the PLC, Abdullah Abdullah, said Thursday that the
Palestinians spoke to Rice on a number of topics, including calling for
the 'cease-fire' to include the West Bank, lifting the blockade and
completing the prisoner exchange deal. “These issues,” Abdullah told PNN,
“will pave the way for reviving the peace process.” <br><br>
The PLC Political Committee Chair said that the Americans, now more than
ever, are aware of the fact that the occupation of Palestine is at the
root of regional problems. But despite their words, the US administration
is not making any moves to lift the blockade against Palestine or to stop
funding the Israelis. And during the US President's visit to Jordan, he
did not discuss Palestine, but rather Iraq, a country he occupies but can
no longer go. <br><br>
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