Middle East

Rice presses Israel on WestBank roadblocks

Article published on the 2008-05-04 Latest update 2008-05-05 06:57 TU

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
(Photo: AFP)

Condoleezza Rice has reinforced US President George W. Bush's pledge to create a Palestinian state before the end of the year. The US Secretary of State was speaking in Jerusalem, in the latest US attempt to advance an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Rice is due to meet Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Sunday.

Shortly after arriving in Jerusalem on Saturday evening, she had talks over dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The Secretary of State has put new pressure on Israel to remove hundreds of checkpoints roadblocks in the occupied West Bank that stifle the Palestinian economy.

"The first thing we are going to do is review the ones that were supposedly removed," she said.

"One thing I want to talk to the Israelis about is the qualitative character of those roadblocks, because not all roadblocks are created equal."

On her last visit to the region, Rice secured an Israeli pledge to remove some 50 roadblocks, but the Palestinians and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the move was largely insignificant.

Rice's visit comes a day after members of the Middle East Quartet called on Israel to freeze the construction of further settlements in the West Bank.

The Quartet, which includes the UN, the US, Russia and the European Union, said in a statement on Friday that all Israeli outposts erected after March 2001 should be dismantled.