Condoleezza Rice to speak in London
US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is expected to speak at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London today.
After a brief stop over in Britain on Thursday and Friday, Ms. Rice will head on to the Middle East in a bid to bolster support for the badly shaken US-backed “roadmap” for peace in the Middle East.
Ms. Rice is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Tony Blair, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, among other officials.
At the weekend she will meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to demand assurances that tit-for-tat violence will be brought under control on both sides of the political and religious divide.
Her visit comes as Israel reportedly killed four Palestinians in a gun battle in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, and amid rumours that Palestinian militant leaders had agreed to a partial cease-fire.
It was first reported that Hamas, a pivotal militant group behind the latest slew of suicide bombings against Israeli targets, would imminently call a “hudna,” or temporary truce but these suggestions were soon quashed by Hamas’s military wing, the Izz al-Deen al-Qassam Brigades. They pledged to fight on in light of Israel’s military attack.
US President George W. Bush, central to the “Quartet” of players backing the peace plan – namely the US, UN, the EU and Russia – said Hamas must be “dismantled” before long lasting peace in the war ravaged region could be assured.
Condoleezza Rice’s speech is entitled “Responsibility of Freedom.”
