Rice Says U.S. Also Supports U.N. Security Council Cease-Fire Resolution

By Merle D. Kellerhals Jr.

U.S. Supports Egyptian Mediation Efforts between Israel, Hamas

The United States supports Egyptian efforts to end the current crisis between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and also supports a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in the conflict.

While 14 nations on the Security Council voted January 8 for the cease-fire resolution that has taken days to work out, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States chose to abstain in order to give Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak time to mediate a truce between the Israelis and Hamas.

At the same time, Rice said, the United States did not want to block passage of the resolution because "we decided that this resolution, the text of which we support, the goals of which we support, and the objectives that we fully support, should indeed be allowed to go forward."

The Security Council has provided a road map for a sustainable, durable peace in Gaza, Rice said. Rice had been in New York since January 6 to work with the Security Council in crafting a cease-fire resolution that would satisfy council members and Arab states that had offered their own cease-fire resolution.

Egypt had worked out a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas in June 2008 that ended in December 2008.

"We must establish an international consensus that Gaza must never again be used as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli citizens, because it is important to remember how this crisis began. Violence in Gaza was instigated by Hamas, a terrorist group that called for the destruction of Israel," Rice said during Security Council debate on January 8.

Actions by Hamas have contributed to the crisis now engulfing the Gaza Strip, Rice said.

"Eighteen months ago, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a coup, and since then, thousands of guns and rockets and mortars have been smuggled into Gaza," she said. "Hamas refused to extend the tahadiya [truce]. ... Continued armament is a root cause of the current situation, and it has gravely endangered the residents of both Gaza and southern Israel."

Rice said Hamas' rocket attacks are not just an attack on Israel, but also on the two-state solution. The United States supports a Palestinian state living at peace and side by side with Israel.

Gaza has been under control of Hamas since June 2007 when its forces ousted the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, which has maintained control over the West Bank territories and is the recognized government of the Palestinian Territories.

The Gaza Strip is a rectangular section of land along the Mediterranean coastline between southern Israel and Egypt. The nearly 1.4 million residents living there are Palestinians, and many have been living in refugee camps for decades.

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas called off its six-month-old truce with Israel and increased the number of rockets and mortars being fired into southern Israel.

U.S. CONCERNED ABOUT HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

At a White House press briefing January 9, deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel said the United States remains deeply concerned about the mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

"We have expressed that concern throughout this crisis," he said.

Stanzel also underscored remarks Rice made earlier at the United Nations, saying that Egypt has been working to develop a "durable and sustainable cease-fire," and it is a process that the United States continues to support. "We are working with our international partners at length. Secretary Rice had a very strong involvement in that resolution," he said.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)

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