US will continue working with Olmert’s government, Rice says
Secretary of State Rice tells Al-Arabiya television US will continue to work with Israeli prime minister and Abbas despite political crisis in Israel; ‘Palestinians have waited a long time for their state,’ she says
Asked by Al-Arabiya television how the US could advance the peace process with a “besieged” Israeli prime minister, the secretary of state said, “First of all, Israel is a strong democracy and democracies have a way of working their way through issues like this and we look forward to working with the prime minister and continuing to push forward.
“I hope that they will again renew the efforts to have the regular meetings with (Palestinian) President Mahmoud Abbas,” she said. “We're going to continue to work toward the two-state solution because one thing that we know is that the Israeli people overwhelmingly want to get to a place where they have a neighbor who can be a contributor to their security and we know that the Palestinian people have waited a long time for their state.”
Turning her attention to Lebanon, Rice said a tribunal for those behind the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri “needs to take place despite the deadlock that is taking place in Lebanon because the perpetrators of the assassination need to be brought to justice.
“And the (Fouad) Siniora government, the democratically elected government of Lebanon needs to be supported; the Lebanese can count on the United States to do that,” she said.
