By Guo Chunju and Yu Zhongwen (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-06 07:26

As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday started her latest Mideast regional tour with the aim to salvage the US-sponsored peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, it is only understandable that Arab experts and media do not hold high expectations on her visit to achieve tangible results to push forward the stalled Mideast peace process.

Sayed Amin Shalaby, executive director of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, pointed out that Rice's visit to the Middle East region comes amid a "very difficult situation as the Israeli- Palestinian conflicts and attacks are deteriorating the security situation in the Gaza Strip and Israeli cities as well".

"Since the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November 2007 relaunched the negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, no progress has been achieved in the negotiations between the two sides in the past three months," Shalaby.

"What complicated the situation is that the recent Israeli excessive military operations and behavior against the Gaza Strip, termed as 'Gaza Holocaust' by Arab states, prompted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to suspend peace talks with Israel," Shalaby said.

He added that it was expected that Rice would help persuade and exert pressure on Israel to stop its military operations and attacks on Gaza and restart the peace negotiations.

Earlier reports said Rice is facing an uphill task during the visit which came after a new round of violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

Armed Palestinian groups on Tuesday continued firing home-made rockets into southern Israel, one day after the Israeli army withdrew ground troops from northern Gaza Strip.

During her visit to Egypt, the first stop of her regional tour which also took her to Israel and the Palestinians, Rice called on Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks, saying she will work toward resumption of the negotiations of the two sides as soon as possible.

Stressing the necessity of an active peace process after her talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, Rice urged Palestinian militants to stop rocket fire against Israel, backing Israel's right to respond to the rocket attacks.

Although both Rice and US President George W. Bush have expressed their optimism to achieve peace by the end of this year, Shalaby noted, "frankly speaking, it appears that the current situation doesn't make people expect the Palestinian-Israeli peace deal can be achieved by the end of 2008."

"However, if the Bush administration make serious efforts to push the peace process, this goal might be achieved, which depends on how much pressure they can make on Israel," he said.

The world needs a miracle to revive the moribund Middle East peace process after the latest Israeli massacres in Gaza, the local Egyptian Mail said in an editorial on Tuesday.

Rice held the Palestinian armed group Hamas responsible for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, condemning its attacks on Israeli cities and calling for an halt of the home-make rocket fires.

For his part, Abul Gheit condemned Israel's excessive use of force against innocent civilians, which is unbalanced and unequal compared to Hamas attacks on the Israelis.

The Egyptian top diplomat also said Hamas was "part of the Palestinian equation" and would have to be dealt with in future negotiations "if they would mend their ways" to renounce violence.

Hamas on Tuesday termed Rice's visit to the Middle East as unwelcome, noting that it serves the aim of preventing Arab countries from responding to the help appeals from the Gaza Strip and comes to rein in the state of solidarity among the Palestinian people, as well as give more support to the Israeli occupation to commit new massacres.

"Achieving national reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah is essential for the negotiations both on the Palestinians track and the Palestinian-Israeli track," said Shalaby.

However, there are reports that the United States covertly worked to oust Hamas after it won 2006 parliamentary elections, breaking the decades-long hold on power of Abbas' Fatah movement.

Xinhua

(China Daily 03/06/2008 page10)