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November 19, 2004/Kislev 6 5765, Vol. 57, No. 12
Rice chosen for State
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - As President Bush's national security adviser over the past four years, Condoleezza Rice has been his key conduit for foreign policy, eclipsing the State Department in the day-to-day handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other burning international issues.
Now tapped, as the nominee for secretary of state, to lead the organization she has helped marginalize, Rice is expected to continue playing a lead role, something welcom-ed by many Israelis and American Jews.
Many anticipate that support for Israel's strong anti-terrorist stance now will be endorsed throughout the Bush administration.
"We're pursuing a positive new direction to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, an approach that honors the peaceful aspirations of the Palestinian people through a democratic state and an approach that will ensure the security of our good friend Israel," Bush said Nov. 16 in announcing the nomination.
Bush also named Stephen Hadley as his new national security adviser.
As Rice's deputy, Hadley worked with Elliott Abrams, the council's Middle East director, to draft U.S. en-dorsement of Israel's Gaza Strip withdrawal, rejecting the Palestinian demand for a refugee "right of return" to their former homes in Israel and supporting some Israeli claims to the West Bank.
Analysts say Rice's appoint-ment is likely to change how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be tackled in the next Bush administration. As new Palestinian leaders emerge, Bush is likely to look for Rice and the State Department to play a leading role in bringing Israelis and Palestinians to-gether for renewed peace talks.
Rice has been Bush's key conduit to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during a period of unprecedented closeness between the two governments, and Israeli reaction to her appointment was positive.
Rice is a "friend of Israel, and we anticipate that under her, our strategic ties with the United States will go from strength to strength," a senior Israeli official said Nov. 16.
As Bush's national security adviser, Rice was a key architect of Mideast policy.
Bush named Rice as a Middle East envoy in the summer of 2003, when there was a prospect for peace negotiations between Sharon and then-Palestinian Autho-rity Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Rice was a vocal advocate for Israel from her White House perch, lauding the U.S.-Israel relationship several times to Jewish audiences and putting the onus squarely on the Palestinians to abandon terrorism and establish a credible government.
"The Palestinian people must replace the failed leadership of decades and build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty," Rice told the Ameri-can Israel Public Affairs Committee on Oct. 25 in Hollywood, Fla. "A Palestinian state will require a vibrant economy, and it will find friends to help it build that."
In an exclusive interview with JTA a day later, before the demise of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, Rice suggested the best time for U.S. re-engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be when Israel disengages from the Gaza Strip.
"I think what you will see is, if Prime Minister Sharon is successful in moving forward on his disengagement plan, that that could provide a new impetus for the Palestinians to move toward reform as they get ready to take responsi-bilities in the Gaza, and it could provide an impetus then for a beginning of negotiations between the parties," she said.
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