US roadmap monitor meets Israeli FM
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday met a former US general appointed by US President George W. Bush to monitor compliance with the Middle East peace blueprint known as the roadmap.
During the talks with Lieutenant General William Fraser, Livni reiterated Israel's position that the Palestinians must crack down on militants in order to implement any peace deal, her ministry said in a statement.
"The implementation of the roadmap is crucial for the success of the process... because the road to the creation of a Palestinian state runs through guaranteeing Israel's security," Livni was quoted as telling Fraser.
Bush earlier this month appointed Fraser to monitor the implementation of the first stage of the 2003 internationally-drafted blueprint, which calls for Palestinians to end violence and for Israelis to freeze settlement construction in occupied Palestinian land.
Israel and the Palestinians reaffirmed their commitment to the roadmap at a US-hosted conference last November where the two sides revived Middle East peace talks after a seven-year hiatus.
Livni briefed Fraser on the current security situation and stressed that the implementation of the roadmap also concerns the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip from where militants regularly fire rockets against Israel, the statement said.
"We are sincere in our desire to reach an agreement and there are certain security parametres we cannot compromise. The world cannot afford a new terror state and the implementation of the roadmap is crucial in preventing it," Livni said.
Fraser was also set to meet Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak before holding talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Tuesday.
Although Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered a freeze of all West Bank settlement expansion, Israel continues construction in occupied east Jerusalem and has yet to dismantle over 100 wildcat outposts in Palestinian areas.
