USA: US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice says Hamas must recognise Israel

Record ID: 398515

  • Title: USA: US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice says Hamas must recognise Israel
  • Date: 9th February 2006
  • Summary: MEDIA TAKING NOTES
  • Embargoed: 24th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAAQQZQB6W4C4SIO6AKCCP8WXOQ
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice welcomed Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to the State Department Wednesday (February 8). During their joint press conference following the meeting, Rice accused Syria and Iran of deliberately stoking Muslim anger in a dispute over cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammad that has sparked deadly protests.

    "Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes and the world ought to call them on it," Rice said.

    Rice and Livni also called for the newly-elected Hamas to accept the terms of a two-state agreement reached with Israel.
    "Recognize the right of Israel to exist, renounce terrorism and dismantle terrorist infrastructure," Livini said. "If this doesn't happen and the Hamas is going to be the next Palestinian government, the answer is simple; Hamas is a terrorist organization, it is a designated terrorist organization, and here comes the conclusion, when an entity, a state is being led by terrorists, the meaning is that this entity, this authority, this state, is going to transfer into a terror state."
    Earlier, U.S. President George Bush had said governments should stop the violence that has erupted over the cartoons, including attacks on Western diplomatic missions in parts of the Muslim world.
    During her visit to Washington and New York, Livini is also meeting with Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, as well as with leading US Senators and Congressmen.
    In New York, she will meet United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and leaders of the American Jewish community. The visit is expected to focus on the Palestinian Authority following the electoral victory of Hamas, the issue of Iran's nuclear programme.
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