Rice backs Egypt's efforts to bring calm to Middle East
BRUSSELS (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday said she backed Egyptian efforts to bring calm to the Middle East, when asked about reported talks between Cairo and Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
"We fully expect the Egyptians to carry out the effort that they said they would carry out to try to bring calm to the region, to try to improve the situation in Gaza," Rice told a press conference in Brussels.
She would not comment on reports that delegations from militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad crossed the Rafah border into Egypt on Thursday for talks with officials on the situation in the Gaza Strip.
"I can't speak to specifics about meetings," she said.
Islamic Jihad on Thursday claimed it had blown up a military jeep on the edge of the Gaza Strip, killing an Israeli soldier.
The incident occurred as international efforts were gathering pace in Egypt with the aim of brokering a truce after an escalation of violence that has killed some 130 people in eight days.
"Egypt is a good ally in this effort to help the Annapolis solution come into being," said Rice, who arrived in the Belgian capital at the end of a Middle East trip. She was referring to last year's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland.
"And I trust that what the Egyptians are doing is exactly in that course," she added.
"It is extremely important that the negotiations continue and I'm pleased that the parties said yesterday that they want to resume the negotiations," said Rice, who called Egypt "a very good partner".
She stressed at the same time that there also had to be progress on the ground.
However on Thursday, an Egyptian security official said Egypt had started building a concrete wall along its border with Gaza even as it speaks to Hamas about improving the dire situation in the increasingly isolated enclave.
Gaza-based militants in January blew up the previous border, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to enter Egypt and stock up on supplies after a crippling Israeli blockade aimed at ending militant rocket fire.
Despite the withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers from the Strip in 2005, the situation there has grown steadily worse since Hamas won Palestinian elections the following year.
British humanitarian agencies on Thursday warned that the situation in Gaza was the worst in 40 years, urging the European Union to hold talks with Hamas and calling for an end to the blockade.
