US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton opened direct Middle East peace talks in Washington yesterday, saying the presence of the two sides was itself a step toward peace.
“By being here today, you each have taken an important step toward freeing your peoples from the shackles of a history we cannot change and moving toward a future of peace and dignity that only you can create,” Clinton said at the start of talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the State Department.
Meanwhile, Israeli and Palestinian forces scoured the occupied West Bank for gunmen in the second attack claimed by Hamas, a staunch opponent of the negotiations, in as many days.
PHOTO: AFP
An Israeli military official hailed the cooperation with the Palestinian security forces, which he said was at its highest level since the 1993 Oslo accords launched the Middle East peace process.
Despite the flare-up of violence, US President Barack Obama on Wednesday called on both sides not to let slip a fleeting opportunity for peace, a Palestinian state and a secure Israel within a year, as he gathered the two leaders with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the White House.
“This moment of opportunity may not soon come again,” said Obama, who met the leaders separately on Wednesday, and then hosted a dinner that also included Clinton and diplomatic Quartet representative and former British prime minister Tony Blair.
The normally hawkish Netanyahu vowed to forge a “historic” peace with the Palestinians and Abbas responded by calling for an end to bloodshed after the latest Hamas attacks, but also demanded a halt to Israel settlement activity.
“President Abbas, you are my partner in peace,” Netanyahu said during a press appearance in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday. “I came here today to find an historic compromise that will enable both our peoples to live in peace and security and dignity.”
Netanyahu vowed to obtain security assurances, warning “terrorists” would not block the path to peace.
“We left Lebanon, we got terror. We left Gaza, we got terror. We want to ensure that territory we concede will not be turned into a third Iranian-sponsored terror enclave aimed at the heart of Israel,” he said.
Turning to Netanyahu, Abbas condemned Tuesday’s attack that killed four Israelis and Wednesday’s strike in which two more were injured.
“We do not want at all that any blood be shed ... one drop of blood on the part of Israelis and Palestinians,” he said.
The Palestinian leader also demanded a total freeze on settlement activity.
“We are under no illusions. Passions run deep. Each side has legitimate and enduring interests. Years of mistrust will not disappear overnight,” Obama said.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
RSS