ISRAEL: US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice met prime minister Ariel Sharon yesterday in a display of support for Israel's planned mid-August withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and in an attempt to increase co-ordination between Israel and the Palestinians over the move.
Dr Rice, who flew by helicopter to meet Mr Sharon at his ranch in the southern Negev desert, interrupted her visit to Israel later in the day to make a surprise trip to Lebanon, aimed at boosting the newly-formed government in Beirut.
Dr Rice's latest visit to Israel - her third to the region this year - was arranged after a sudden escalation of Israeli-Palestinian violence. But it is also meant to bolster Mr Sharon ahead of the pullout: tens of thousands of protesters opposed to the Israeli leader's plan to evacuate all 21 settlements in Gaza, held a protest rally earlier this week and were blocked by 20,000 police and soldiers from marching into Gaza.
"I look forward to talking with both the Israelis and the Palestinians about the need for tight co-ordination," Dr Rice, who meets Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas today in Ramallah, said ahead of her meeting with Mr Sharon.
"I also look forward to talking about the need to resist any efforts by terrorists to destroy this moment of hope."
Israeli officials quoted her as saying that the internationally-backed road map peace plan must be on the agenda once the Gaza withdrawal has been completed, but that the first step was a Palestinian commitment to dismantle armed groups. Both sides have accused each other of failing to fulfil key stipulations in the first phase of the road map: Israel says Mr Abbas has failed to move against militants, while the Palestinians say Israel has continued to expand settlements.
While the US secretary of state made no mention of the settlement issue at her meeting with Mr Sharon, the matter will be on the agenda at her meeting with Mr Abbas.
Palestinians fear that Mr Sharon will exploit the Gaza withdrawal to tighten his grip on the West Bank. That concern will have been strengthened by the Israeli leader's comments on Thursday that he plans to hold on to the large settlement of Ariel in the heart of the West Bank. "I came here today to see how the city can be expanded," Mr Sharon said on a visit to the settlement. "Ariel will forever be an inseparable part of the State of Israel."
In Beirut, Dr Rice told a news conference after holding talks with prime minister Fouad al-Siniora, that there is not "a more supportive partner than the United States for what Lebanon is trying to achieve because this is a wonderful breakthrough for the Lebanese people to have control of their own future."
She reiterated the US demand that Hizbullah guerrillas be disarmed, in accordance with a UN resolution, despite it joining the new government. She also called on Syria to end a border blockade of Lebanon.
"Ultimately the [ UN] resolution is speaking only to the fact that there can be only one authority in a country and in a democracy there can be only one authority and one authority that is armed."
Dr Rice flew into Beirut from Israel under secrecy due to security fears in a country where there have been three politically motivated assassinations this year. Lebanese troops and police patrolled the streets as she was driven first to the Beirut house of assassinated former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, where she met his son Saad al-Hariri, parliament's majority coalition leader. She then visited Mr Hariri's grave where she laid a reef of white flowers. Dr Rice later held talks with president Emile Lahoud, a close ally of Syria.