Palestinian President Abbas met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ramallah Tuesday afternoon. They discussed the continuing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip and the issue of resuming negotiations with the Israelis. At the joint press conference held at the Presidential Offices, Abbas said that conditions on the ground are deplorable and must be improved. He said that he had stressed to Rice on many occasions that the Palestinians have been open to negotiations, as reflected in the Arab Peace Initiative, however “we have identified Israel’s unwillingness due to its insistence of consistently using intense force and military processes with seriously negative consequences, such as in Gaza.”The Palestinian leader also told the press conference that security must come from both the Israelis and Palestinians, and not only in the form of political, social and economic security. He stressed that no one can justify the killing of 120 Palestinians, of whom 20 were children, and wounding 300.
For her part, Rice expressed concern over the situation in Gaza, focusing on “the need to stop ‘rocket attacks.’Additionally, she said that negotiations must continue and violence must decrease.
On its part, Hamas on Tuesday said that the visit of Rice to the region was "ominous" and fell in line with American pressures on Arab parties. Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, Fawzi Barhoum in a statement on Tuesday said that Rice's visit also aims at providing more support for the "Israeli occupation's massacres and siege" on Gaza in addition to covering up for its crimes. According to him, Rice's visit is unwelcome and added, "We do not have high hopes on the visit and we consider the American administration an accomplice in the occupation's crimes against our people and specifically in the latest massacres in the Gaza Strip".
According to PIC, the spokesman called on the Arab and Islamic masses to continue in their solidarity campaigns with the Palestinian people and to pressure their governments to end their "dreadful silence" and to adopt courageous steps in boycotting and exposing occupation.