JERUSALEM — Declaring that an independent Palestinian state was “long overdue,” Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday the success of the U.S.-sponsored peace talks depends on the Palestinian ability to rein in militant groups that favor armed resistance over negotiations.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is largely unable to limit the activities of the largest Palestinian militant group, Hamas, and efforts to reconcile the warring factions continued in Yemen with both sides agreeing only to continue talking.
Cheney arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday as part of a regional tour that included stops in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. Cheney and his family celebrated Easter Mass with Lazarist monks at a small chapel attached to the U.S. Consulate in West Jerusalem.
