ISRAEL - GAZA TRUCE (HOW LONG)

Fragile Gaza truce enters second day by Sakher Abu El Oun
JUNE 19,08

GAZA CITY (AFP) - A fragile truce entered its second day in the Gaza Strip on Friday amid scepticism over how long the Egyptian-brokered deal between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement would hold. The six-month truce is the first since the Islamists seized the impoverished Palestinian territory just over a year ago , triggering a crippling Israeli blockade.Hamas is determined to respect the truce and guarantee its success, its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said after the ceasefire took hold Thursday.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said the Jewish state will respect all the commitments it made.As the truce went into effect, Olmert's office announced the premier will travel to Egypt next Tuesday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak.Israeli negotiator Ofer Dekel is due to fly to Egypt the same day to resume talks on a proposed prisoner swap with Hamas, a senior defence official said.Israel wants Hamas to release Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was seized by Gaza militants in a deadly cross-border raid two years ago.Israel knows it will have to pay a heavy price for Shalit's release and free many Palestinian terrorists, a senior defence official, who asked not to be named, said.But Shalit's father Noam lashed out at the truce in an interview with Israeli television on Thursday.From the moment when we no longer have any means of pressure, Hamas can drag out the negotiations (on Gilad's release) for two more years, or five years, or 10 years, he said. And we might never see Gilad again.The deal also entails a gradual easing of Israel's blockade of the overcrowded strip of land where most of the 1.5 million population depend on outside aid.

Israeli authorities said this should start on Sunday with an increase of goods allowed into the Palestinian enclave.The deal was concluded after months of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel, which had been mulling a wider military offensive in Gaza in a bid to halt rocket fire.Israel made it clear the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt , the territory's only one that bypasses the Jewish state, would be reopened only if Shalit is released, the Ynet news website said.Olmert warned on Wednesday that the ceasefire would be fragile and could be short-lived, saying the army stood ready to intervene if it is breached.The White House cautiously welcomed the deal saying it hoped it meant that Hamas would give up terrorism.The United States, the European Union and Israel blacklist Hamas as a terrorist organisation despite its 2006 victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called the truce a very welcome development.I hope it will provide momentum for the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, he said. UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he hoped it will both provide security and an easing of the humanitarian crisis in impoverished Gaza, and end rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli targets.Middle East Quartet envoy and former British prime minister Tony Blair called the truce a positive development.We should be under no illusion, however, that this calm is fragile, said Blair, who represents the diplomatic Quartet made up of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose powerbase has been limited to the West Bank since Hamas seized Gaza, hailed the deal as good news for us. Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad called on Israel to halt military operations in the occupied West Bank too. All those Israeli military operations in areas under our control must cease, said Fayyad, whose government's writ has been limited to the West Bank since the Hamas movement's seizure of Gaza in June last year. Syria, home to Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal, said it supported the deal while the 22-member Arab League said it would be an important step towards inter-Palestinian reconciliation.

ISRAEL-HAMAS TRUCE IN AFFECT
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Quiet reigns in Israel, Gaza as truce takes hold By LAURIE COPANS and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers Thu Jun 19, 3:33PM ET

SDEROT, Israel - Raz Elraz, for the first time, will be able to take his 14-month-old son to a playground in this rocket-scarred Israeli town. A few miles away in Gaza, Palestinian teenagers ride their bicycles, and Hamas guards play pingpong. The six-month truce that took effect Thursday was welcomed by both sides, although the Palestinian economy is still being held in check by a closed border.

The cease-fire is meant to end Palestinian rocket barrages and Israeli reprisals in Gaza that have killed more than 400 Palestinians — many of them civilians — and seven Israelis in fighting since the Islamic Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip a year ago.Halting all violence is the first step of the deal. If it holds, succeeding stages will see Israel easing its blockade on Gaza and negotiations will resume on the release of an Israeli soldier held for two years by Hamas-linked forces and on opening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will fly to Egypt next week for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Olmert's office said. The statement indicated the talks were not linked with a prisoner exchange, but Israel's chief negotiator on the prisoner issue is also due in Egypt on Tuesday.Much is at stake. If the truce fails, Israel has warned it will launch a large- scale invasion of Gaza, despite warnings of high casualties on both sides. That could prompt the moderate West Bank government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to call off U.S.-backed peace talks with Israel.While Abbas has little control over the daily life of the 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza since Hamas overran the territory and ousted his security forces, he wants to strengthen his image in both territories as he tries to negotiate with Israel.As the sun set on the first day of the truce, there were no reports of fighting. The last truce, in November 2006, lasted only weeks.On the Israeli side of the Kissufim crossing, Israeli soldiers played soccer near their tanks. In the southern Gaza town of Rafah, grinning Hamas security men in camouflage uniforms played pingpong while their colleagues sat nearby, their guns resting on their laps.Along Gaza's border fence with Israel, Palestinian teenagers celebrated the truce by riding bicycles in the area that just a day earlier was a combat zone. Palestinian children flew kites on the beach in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip.In Sderot, Elraz said he didn't trust the truce enough yet to let his son, Itai, play outside.It will take a very long time to persuade Sderot residents that there is calm, said Elraz, 30, from the bar of his pizza restaurant. We need peace. As long as there is no peace, there is no quiet and there's still war.

Other Israelis were similarly skeptical.

I give it a week at the most. said David Cohen, 38, as he sold cigarettes and soft drinks at his kiosk. I pray that it will last longer, but I consider each day more a bonus.Even so, Cohen said he hoped to take his children out for a bike ride on Saturday for the first time in years.In Gaza, Palestinian Ahmad al-Smari also wasn't ready to be too hopeful.We want a real end to all violence, to feel like we are human, to sleep without fear and to farm without fear, to eat, drink, study, travel, said al-Smari, 38. I don't think that Israel is ready to give that to us now.Sderot, less than a mile from Gaza, has borne the brunt of Palestinian rocket attacks in the past seven years, killing 13 people, wounding dozens, causing millions of dollars in damage, and disrupting daily life and ruining the economy. More than 1,000 projectiles have exploded in the town of about 20,000 people in the past year alone. For many Palestinians, the key was opening the crossings. Israel's deputy defense minister said more trucks would bring vital supplies to Gaza starting Sunday, and a week later, building supplies would be let through. I don't want to have too much hope until I see something really coming through the crossing, Issa Ali, 55, said as he smoked a water pipe outside his idle cement block factory near the Karni crossing with Israel. Life has stopped in Gaza for the past year. ... Will Gaza rise again? I do not know. You can ask them, he said, pointing his finger to the Israeli side. The yearlong international boycott of the Hamas regime has plunged crowded Gaza ever deeper into poverty. About 80 percent of its 1.4 million residents depend on food aid, according to U.N. figures.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope the truce would provide security and an easing of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and end rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli targets.
Officials on both sides mirrored their citizens' skepticism.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel would fully implement all its commitments but added, Our eyes are open, we are closely following what the other side is doing.In Paris, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the truce might last only days or weeks. It is a very fragile cease-fire, but we think that before we enter a major (military) operation, we should give it a chance, he said. Hamas does not recognize Israel and refuses to renounce violence. Israel, the U.S. and the European Union regard Hamas as a terror organization and do not deal with it, so Egypt had to act as a mediator, working for months on the unsigned truce accord. In an e-mail message to reporters, the Hamas military wing declared itself completely and comprehensively committed to the truce. But it added that Hamas gunmen were ready to launch a military strike that will shake the Zionist entity state if Israel did not abide by all its commitments. Copans reported from Sderot, Israel; Barzak reported from Gaza City.

Palestinian PM wants truce extended to West Bank by Ezzedine Said Thu Jun 19, 2:36 PM ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad called on Israel on Thursday to halt military operations in the occupied West Bank following the coming into force of a truce in and around Gaza. All those Israeli military operations in areas under our control must cease, said Fayyad, whose government's writ has been limited to the West Bank since the Islamist Hamas movement's seizure of Gaza in June last year.The Western-backed premier said the Israeli security presence in the occupied territory undermines our efforts, the credibility of our efforts, the morale of our troops, and it undermines our credibility politically.He nonetheless welcomed the Egyptian-brokered truce in and around Gaza which Israel has said will trigger a gradual easy of its blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory from Sunday if it holds.It is a very important step as it should allow an improvement of living conditions in the Gaza Strip and an easing of the suffering of the population, Fayyad told AFP.This truce boosts our position in calling for a reopening of the crossing points into Gaza and this is very important. This truce must be given every chance to succeed, he said.The Gaza truce, which Hamas has said will last for an initial six months, does not extend to the West Bank where Israel says its military operations are essential to preventing attacks inside the Jewish state.Fayyad's government was named by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas after Hamas seized Gaza, replacing a national unity government led by senior Hamas official Ismail Haniya.

Fayyad also expressed concern over the lack of progress in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian leadership that were revived to great fanfare in the United States last November after a seven-year gap.I'm especially alarmed by the fact that there has been a substantial, dramatic increase in terms of the settlement activity, he said.In recent months, Israel has announced plans to build hundreds more homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank.Fayyad said this could undermine chances of reaching an internationally backed two-state solution, in which a viable Palestinian state would coexist with Israel.The premier, who travels to Berlin for an international conference on Palestinian security next week, said he would issue a call for international support for his efforts to bolster the Palestinian police force and justice system in the West Bank.We are looking for help, both technical and financial, in our effort to build up our capacity in that important sphere. I view security as the most basic function that any responsible state should provide for its citizens, he said.

Under the so-called roadmap peace plan drafted by the international community five years ago which Israel and the Palestinians accepted as the basis of their renewed peace efforts, Israel is supposed to freeze settlement activity while the Palestinians take steps to boost security.To that end, the Palestinians have already deployed security personnel in the city of Nablus and other formerly restive areas of the northern West Bank.

Pope prays for Middle East peace Thu Jun 19, 11:58 AM ET

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI called Thursday on leaders across the Middle East to work for peace, saying that he is praying ardently for the ability to visit the Holy Land in person. In a clear reference to the fragile truce in the Gaza Strip, which began at 0300 GMT, the pope was speaking after meeting with international Roman and Eastern Catholic leaders, including representatives from the region.I am launching an appeal to national leaders so that the Middle East, and in particular the Land of Jesus, Lebanon and Iraq, can offer themselves peace and social stability, respecting fundamental human rights, including that of a genuine religious freedom, he said.I am praying ardently that I will be able to visit them in person, just as I am praying that certain signs of peace, which I welcome with great confidence, will come to full fruition, he added.Peace is the only way to tackle the serious problem of displaced persons and refugees, to put an end to the flight in particular of Christians, which so wounds the Eastern churches.The pontiff said he had followed with gratitude and relief recent developments in Lebanon.The country finally elected a president and a prime minister last month government after a long stand-off and clashes between rival factions threatened to drag the country into civil war, but remains without a government.Once again, I express the wish that Lebanon will find the courage to fulfil its vocation as an example to the Middle East and the world at large of peaceful and constructive co-existence between men, he added.

FRAGILE CEASEFIRE HOLDS IN GAZA
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Hezbollah sees role beyond Israel leaving Shebaa Farms Thu Jun 19, 11:54 AM ET

BEIRUT (AFP) - The Shiite movement Hezbollah said on Thursday that Lebanon would still need its armed presence even if Israel finally quit the disputed Shebaa Farms district in the south. Any Zionist retreat from the Shebaa Farms would be a big achievement for the resistance for this would be the result of its role and its pressure, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah was quoted as saying by the state-run National News Agency.But any retreat will not change the fact that Lebanon needs the resistance, he said.Hezbollah, which claimed to have forced Israel's pullout from south Lebanon in May 2000 after two decades of occupation, sees itself as the legitimate resistance to the Jewish state.Fadlallah also accused the international community, particularly the United States, of involving itself recently in the Shebaa Farms for aims linked to the resistance -- a reference to demands for Hezbollah to disarm.

Those who think that putting the Shebaa Farms under international supervision could put pressure on the resistance... delude themselves.During a surprise visit to Lebanon on Monday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she believed it was time to resolve the Shebaa Farms dispute in conformity with Resolution 1701.The resolution, which ended the 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in August 2006, was based on a plan drawn up by Western-backed Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.The plan stipulated putting the disputed Shebaa Farms under United Nations supervision pending a resolution between Lebanon, Syria and Israel on its legitimate ownership.Beirut, supported by Damascus, claims sovereignty over the territory lying by south Lebanon, Syria and Israel while the Jewish state says it is part of the Syrian Golan Heights which it seized in 1967 and unilaterally annexed.Rice said also during the lightning visit that Washington still considers Hezbollah a terrorist organisation, despite the group taking part in Lebanon's new government of national unity.

Olmert to meet Mubarak in Egypt next week: Israel Thu Jun 19, 8:03 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will travel to Egypt next week for talks with President Hosni Mubarak, the premier's office said on Thursday as an Egyptian-mediated Gaza truce went into effect. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will leave next Tuesday for Egypt where he will meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the statement said.The two agreed to meet two weeks ago in order to discuss regional issues and address bilateral relations, it said.The announcement came as an Israeli official said an envoy of the premier would also head to Egypt on Tuesday to discuss a prisoner swap.Israel is seeking the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, now 21, who was seized by Gaza militants in a deadly cross-border raid two years ago.Israel knows it will have to pay a heavy price for Shalit's release and free many Palestinian terrorists, said a defence official, who asked not to be named.The fate of the soldier has been discussed alongside the Egyptian-mediated negotations between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement that controls Gaza, which led to a truce going into effect at 0300 GMT on Thursday.

US Treasury targets Hezbollah supporters in Venezuela Wed Jun 18, 3:31 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Treasury Department on Wednesday froze the US assets of what it said were a pair of Venezuela-based supporters of Hezbollah. They are Ghazi Nasr al Din and Fawzi Kan'an, along with two travel agencies owned and controlled by Kan'an, the department said.It is extremely troubling to see the Government of Venezuela employing and providing safe harbor to Hezbollah facilitators and fundraisers. We will continue to expose the global nature of Hezbollah's terrorist support network, and we call on responsible governments worldwide to disrupt and dismantle this activity, said Adam Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).Separately the department also moved to freeze the US assets of two leaders of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), which it called an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist organization with the goal of overthrowing the Uzbekistan government.Najmiddin Kamlitdinovich Jalolov and Suhayl Fatilloevich Buranov were sanctioned under US measures to target terrorists and those providing financial, technological, or material support to terrorists or acts of terrorism.Under the leadership of Jalolov and Buranov, IJU has terrorized innocents and killed civilians, said Szubin. Today's action and the parallel action by the UN demonstrate the international community's commitment to choking off the financial lifelines supporting IJU.Assets designees have under US jurisdiction are frozen and US persons are barred from doing business or having interests in property blocked under the order.

Failure to create Palestinian state serious mistake: Jordan king by Mussa Hattar Wed Jun 18, 1:34 PM ET

PETRA, Jordan (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II warned on Wednesday that failure to create an independent Palestinian state this year would be a serious mistake, calling for a stable Middle East. It would be a serious mistake to miss the opportunities we have this year to establish, finally, a sovereign, independent and viable Palestinian state along with a secure and recognised Israel, the king said at the opening of a conference of 29 Nobel laureates whose main focus is the global food crisis and other development issues.The Middle East must move out of this threat zone. The single most important step is peace -- a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.Israeli President Shimon Peres joined the two-day meeting at Jordan's World Heritage Site of Petra, alongside Arab League chief Amr Mussa, Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.Throughout Jordan, and across the region, millions of people want to be part of a stable, moderate, modern Middle East. Long after today's conflicts are history, their lives will be shaped by what we did, this year, the king said.Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks at a US-hosted meeting in November, committing themselves to a target of reaching a deal, including the creation of a Palestinian state, by the end of 2008.

But so far, they have made little concrete progress.

In an interview published on Wednesday by Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper, King Abdullah said that the Palestinians would not accept any substitute for their homeland.Israel must realise this fact and acknowledge the existence of the Palestinians and accept the inevitable coexistence with them, he said in the interview, also carried by Jordanian newspapers.His statements came amid fears in Jordan that the kingdom may come under pressure to merge with a rump West Bank if the Palestinians do not win their promised independence.Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine, the king stressed in the interview.Officials have told AFP that the kingdom, where a significant proportion of its 5.8 million inhabitants are of Palestinian origin, strongly opposes all American or Israeli attempts to merge it with a part of the West Bank.At the conference, named Petra IV: Reaching for New Economic, Scientific and Educational Horizons, five working groups were to discuss issues including the world food crisis and youth and economic development in the Middle East.Warning that extremism feeds on violence and frustration, the king urged Nobel laureates to support young people, who constitute almost 60 percent of the population of the region.Their generation is facing immediate challenges. We need to support them in every way possible, he said.

The king later met separately with Mussa and Peres, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for Israel's autonomy accord with the Palestinians in 1994, the year when Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty.Israel's settlement policies threaten the Middle East peace process. Israel must take all necessary measures to improve Palestinian living conditions and ease Palestinian hardships, the palace quoted the king as telling Peres.The conference is organised by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development and the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, created by Jewish author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel who won the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.

France quashes talk of Israeli-Syrian peace summit Wed Jun 18, 12:09 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - France on Wednesday poured cold water on plans for a historic meeting between Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next month in Paris. President Nicolas Sarkozy has invited Assad for a Mediterranean summit on July 13, sparking speculation that the Syrian president could meet with Olmert on the sidelines of the gathering to discuss Israeli-Syrian peace talks.But an Elysee official said indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel through Turkey have not matured enough for a direct meeting in Paris between Ehud Olmert and Bashar al-Assad to be held.Last month, Israel and Syria launched indirect peace talks, with Turkey serving as a mediator, after an eight-year freeze.After the latest round of indirect talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said both sides had pronounced themselves extremely satisfied with the level of progress.Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sunday publicly called on Syria to enter direct talks, citing the example of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, who forged a peace deal with the Jewish state.But Assad said earlier this month that direct peace talks with Israel were unlikely before 2009 and depended on the fate of Olmert, who has been dogged by calls for his resignation over a graft scandal.The last round of Israeli-Syrian negotiations broke down in 2000 over the fate of the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed in 1981, a move not internationally recognised.

Sarkozy's chief of staff Claude Gueant earlier said Olmert had suggested that the Mediterranean summit would perhaps provide an opportunity to have direct contacts.I do not know if that will be the case but in any case there is much at stake and it is in the interest of peace that France is trying to make it work, he said.

Gueant traveled to Damascus at the weekend for talks with Assad on his visit to Paris, the Israeli-Syrian peace process and the situation in Lebanon.

Israeli parliament to consider early election Wed Jun 18, 9:12 AM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's parliament could hold a preliminary vote as early as June 25 on whether to dissolve itself and force an election that could replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, legislative officials said on Wednesday. Olmert has vowed to stay in office and continue to lead his Kadima party unless indicted in a corruption investigation that has drawn calls from political allies and foes alike for his resignation.He has denied any wrongdoing in the case. A New York-based financier testified in court last month that he gave Olmert $150,000 in cash and loans over a 15-year-period before the veteran politician became prime minister.Both the opposition Likud party and Olmert's main coalition partner, Labor, have submitted separate resolutions to dissolve parliament over the suspicions against the prime minister.Labor and Likud officials said on Wednesday a preliminary vote could take place as early as June 25. Subsequent votes needed to pass the resolutions could be held by the end of parliament's summer session in late July.In the meantime, Olmert's lawyers plan to cross-examine the U.S. businessman next month and Israel's attorney-general has ordered police to expedite the investigation. It would up to the attorney-general to decide ultimately whether to indict Olmert.(Reporting by Avida Landau, Editing by Ralph Boulton)

Adviser denies Obama showed naiveton Jerusalem By Claudia Parsons Wed Jun 18, 5:53 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama misused a code word in Middle East politics when he said Jerusalem should be Israel's undivided capital but that does not mean he is naive on foreign policy, a top adviser said on Tuesday. Addressing a pro-Israel lobby group this month, the Democratic White House hopeful said: Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.The comment angered Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as the capital of a future state. He has closed all doors to peace, Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said after the June 4speech.Obama later said Palestinians and Israelis had to negotiate the status of the city, in line with long-held U.S. presidential policy.Daniel Kurtzer, who advises Obama on the Middle East, said Tuesday at the Israel Policy Forum that Obama's comment stemmed from a picture in his mind of Jerusalem before 1967 with barbed wires and minefields and demilitarized zones.So he used a word to represent what he did not want to see again, and then realized afterwards that that word is a code word in the Middle East, Kurtzer said.

The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1995 describing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and saying it should not be divided, but successive presidents have used their foreign policy powers to maintain the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and to back talks between Israel and Palestinians on the status of Jerusalem.In practice, U.S. foreign policy is broadly aligned with that of the United Nations and other major powers, which do not view Jerusalem as Israel's capital and do not recognize Israel's annexation of Arab East Jerusalem after the 1967 war.One member of the audience who said the remark -- and its subsequent clarifications -- did not speak well of Obama's foreign policy knowledge.Kurtzer said it was unfortunate that so much time was being spent dwelling on one word of a 30-minute speech, but it does not indicate any kind of naivet� about foreign affairs.He said Obama's speech showed a strong contrast with the policies of Republican hopeful John McCain.

You either run it the way we've run it for the past eight years, or you engage, including with your enemies, he said.Kurtzer, who teaches at Princeton, served under President George W. Bush as ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005 and was ambassador to Egypt under Bill Clinton.Obama has faced wariness among some Jewish voters over his commitment to Israel, fueled by suspicion over his comments indicating willingness to talk to Iranian leaders.We do not at all recommend any diminution of U.S. support for Israel, Kurtzer said.

But he said U.S. policy needed to be made in Washington.

Kurtzer said Obama's willingness to engage with enemies did not extend to Hamas, and that position was unlikely to change even after the Palestinian militant group agreed an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Israel this week.(Editing by Doina Chiacu and Michelle Nichols)

Low profile for Secretary Rice's Israel visit By Ilene R. Prusher Wed Jun 18, 4:00 AM ET

Jerusalem - Condoleezza Rice came here this week for the 20th time since becoming secretary of State, and left town having offered many of the same statements made on previous Middle East peace missions: that Israelis and Palestinians should follow their road map obligations; that the Palestinians must fight terrorism; and that the Israelis must stop building settlements. But the local media have virtually lost interest in the visit of a US secretary of State, an event which in the past had always built expectations of progress in the peace process, and always made the front page.

The dearth of coverage – and the focus instead on security developments other than those between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a track in which the White House has invested deeply – is an indication of how low expectations are for any peace breakthrough before the end of President Bush's administration.

Israel's two mass-circulation dailies, Maariv and Yediot Aharonot, did not cover Secretary Rice's visit. Haaretz, the progressive broadsheet, filled its front pages with expected breakthroughs in which US officials play no role. These include an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that was announced Tuesday and will take effect Thursday; a resumption of Israeli-Syrian talks hosted in Turkey; and the possibility of a prisoner exchange next week between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-supported Islamist movement in Lebanon.The government of Israel has decided to give a clear preference to the Egyptian track and that remains the priority, says Mark Regev, the spokesman of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. By giving it priority, he explained, Israel is indicating that it would prefer to reach a cease-fire – also commonly referred to as a tahadiyeh, or calming, in Arabic – rather than launch a major military operation in Gaza. The Palestinian press also focused little on the visit. Frankly, people are not at the point anymore where they look at her visit with any sense of seriousness, says Bassem Zubeidy, a professor at Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah in the West Bank. She comes and says nice things to Mr. Abbas, but is not showing any real strictness when it comes to dealing with the Israelis. That Rice was here was really presented in our media ... in a very brief way, and not in a very positive way.

Diplomatic officials close to the US-driven peace process, however, insist that some progress is being made with each Rice visit to the region, during which she deals with three tracks in the Israeli-Palestinian talks.The first is a diplomatic track, in which Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni meets with senior Palestinian official Ahmed Qorei (also known as Abu Ala), and which sources close to the talks say will, at the very least, produce an agreed-upon document by the end of the 2008. Then there is a road map implementation track, in which Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, along with a US presence at many of these meetings, discuss on-the-ground issues such as roadblocks and checkpoints. Finally, an institution-building track focuses on other issues such as economic investment in the Palestinian areas – known by some as the Tony Blair track, because Britain's former premier heads this department, as well as a program to build up the Palestinian Authority's security abilities, assisted by the US security coordinator, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton.People seem to be quite convinced that progress is being made, but they're also sticking to their positions that they are not going to show it to the media, says a Western diplomat familiar with the process. But at what point do you trot out accomplishments to the public to show that progress is being made? That's always the dilemma. Without it, you face declining expectations.After meeting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Rice said that no party should be taking steps at this point that could prejudice the outcome of the negotiations. The comment was in reference to Israel's announcement, on the eve of her arrival Saturday night, that it planned to build another 1,300 housing units in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after 1967 and which Palestinians see as their future capital.

Rice also spoke to Israeli concerns about terrorism.

We'll talk some about how the Palestinians see themselves moving on some of the terrorism side, and I do think that there is more that could be done on that side, Rice said, giving Prime Minister Fayyad credit for going after terrorist finances.The secretary, who is expected to return to Israel soon, has herself been traveling a bit more modestly, as if trying to cultivate a sense of being more of an active moderator in the region and less of a guest. She came on a smaller plane, with fewer staff members, and brought only three wire-service reporters with her as traveling press. There may be times when [three-way meetings] help, Rice said during her visit here. I think the last one helped. But I don't want it to just become something that's formulaic.She added: I think it's pretty intensive, but, you know, it's June, and I expect that people are going to work harder and harder. They're also beginning to find out where differences are. And as they do that, they'll need to intensify ways of finding ways to bridge those differences.