US Vice President Dick Cheney began Easter Sunday with a prayer and the singing of Amazing Grace at a chapel in Jerusalem, then launched into a day of talks about conflict: the Middle East peace process and the rising influence of Iran in the region.
"We are obviously dedicated to doing all we can as an administration to try to move the peace process forward, and obviously actively involved in dealing with the threats that we see emerging in the region -- not only threats to Israel, but threats to the United States as well," Cheney, a strong supporter of Israel, said in a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres.
It was clear that Cheney was referring to Iran, but Peres was more specific, saying the anti-Israel declarations that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes against Israel, and Iran's support for Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups, cannot be ignored.
"We have this problem of the Iranians who want to build two satellites, the Hezbollah [in Lebanon] and the Hamas in Gaza ... Nobody can control us and say that declarations by Ahmadinejad are less serious," Peres said. "We have to take it seriously."
He said time is of the essence in the peace process, but that he believes progress is achievable.
"The mere fact that in spite of the differences the negotiations go on is a great hope for the future," Peres said.
Israel has been pursuing peace with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since the two sides relaunched talks at a US-sponsored conference last November. At the same time, it has been battling Hamas, which wrested control of the Gaza Strip in June from Abbas-allied forces and has bombarded southern Israel with rockets.
There has been a recent lull in the Gaza violence, however, amid Egyptian efforts to broker a truce.
Nimer Hamad, a political adviser to Abbas, said he saw no chance for an agreement this year if Israel continued settlement expansion and its military incursions.
"Without strong American intervention and pressure on Israel, there will be no progress in the peace talks," he said.
HAMAS
Hamas scoffed at the Cheney peacekeeping mission.
"All the visits of the American administration officials to the region have one goal, which is to give unlimited support to the occupation and the Israeli government, and to encourage their aggressions against our people," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
He said the "so-called peace process" was a "paralyzed and ailing" fiction, and said Cheney was visiting Abbas "to encourage him to practice more anti-Hamas policy and work against the unity of his people."
Cheney began the day with his wife, Lynne, and daughter, Liz, attending a nondenominational service at Lazarist Monastery, which rents out space to the US consulate for diplomatic work with the Palestinian Authority.
Afterward, he had breakfast with Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and went to meetings with Peres and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Later in the day, Cheney was going to Ramallah in the West Bank to meet with Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Also see: Primary architect of Israel's birth may face extinction
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS