JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday that she would push for an easing of Israeli restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank as she began her latest Mideast mission aimed at reviving faltering peace talks.
Rice said she was looking for “real concrete progress” on several issues, including improving the movement and access of people and goods from the West Bank. Israeli checkpoints and strict travel rules have curtailed such commerce and largely crippled the Palestinian economy.
“I will spend a good deal of time on issues concerning the West Bank and issues concerning the ability to provide a better life for the people of the West Bank, including ways to improve movement and access,” she told reporters on her plane en route to Israel.
“The improvement of life on the ground is the piece that I think really has to be pushed forward pretty hard,” Rice said before arriving and heading to dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Easing the restrictions would clear the way for economic revival projects proposed by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, now a Mideast peace envoy, with the strong backing of Palestinian leaders who control the West Bank.
Rice planned three-way talks today with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to explore ways of easing the regulations, including turning over more security control to the Palestinian Authority in certain areas.
“Obviously, there are security issues, but we do have to find ways to improve movement,” she said. “There are obstacles that are not checkpoints, and there are checkpoints that are obstacles. I think you have to look at both.”
Israel agreed this past week to issue more permits for Palestinian laborers and merchants but has yet to take down any of the hundreds of West Bank checkpoints it says are necessary to stop suicide bombers.
