Rice, Gates leave for Middle East on July 30

Washington, July 25: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will travel to the West Asia next week to seek Arab help in stabilizing Iraq and reviving Arab-Israeli peace moves, the State Department announced.

The joint trip comes at a time of suspicion in the Arab world over the Bush administration's commitment to Israeli-Palestinian peace and its ability to secure Iraq as domestic pressure increases for a US troop withdrawal.

''They will discuss how Iraq's neighbors can support that country, support the Iraqi people and be active participants in helping the Iraqis build a better future,'' said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack yesterday. ''They will also touch on Israeli-Arab issues.'' Many Arab nations believe Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are issues that should be tackled at the same time, telling the Bush administration there needs to be greater US engagement on both fronts.

Bush on Tuesday evening was dining at the White House with Jordan's King Abdullah, one of his staunchest Arab allies in the effort to broker peace between Israelis and the Palestinians.

Rice and Gates leave on July 30 for the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for meetings with the Gulf Cooperation Council, Egypt and Jordan. The council groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

They will then travel to Saudi Arabia to discuss Iraq and other issues. Saudi Arabia has been critical of the US presence in Iraq and relations have been strained between the two allies in recent months.

''The Saudis are still extremely concerned but their attitude is not that they are going to ignore the United States but continue to press the US to move forward,'' said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based thinktank.

Rice will then go separately to Jerusalem for meetings with Israeli leaders and to Ramallah for talks with President Mahmoud Abbas before returning to Washington on August. 2.

Ignoring Hamas

McCormack said Rice was looking for ''concrete ways'' to move the peace process forward, but analysts were pessimistic of her chances of success, with the Palestinian territories split between Hamas-run Gaza and the West Bank, which is controlled by Abbas's Fatah movement.

''She (Rice) is facing skepticism across the entire Arab world.

Most people believe it is too little, too late,'' said Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, Bush announced a new West Asia initiative last week and said he was sending Gates and Rice to the region to discuss a peace conference proposed by the White House this autumn.

Details and the location for that meeting have still not been worked out but it is expected to bring together Israeli and Palestinian leaders as well as some Arab neighbors and the quartet of West Asia mediators.

Alterman said many Arab nations disagreed with the US policy of isolating Hamas and would raise this in their meetings. ''Ignoring them (Hamas) does not mean they will go away,'' he said.

Rice had been set to go to the Philippines for a meeting of the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations, or ASEAN, on August. 2, but this clashed with her West Asia plans and McCormack said she would send her deputy John Negroponte.

Two years ago, Rice drew criticism when she skipped a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum but McCormack said Asian nations would understand she had to travel to the West Asia.

Earlier this month Rice canceled a trip to Africa because of meetings on the West Asia. ''This is not to say that there are not important issues in Asia and Africa but the timing is such that her presence ... is needed elsewhere,'' said McCormack.

Reuters>