"U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that Arab nations must do more to reach out to Israel, as a way to do their part to nudge a Mideast peace accord into being.
Rice spoke from Saudi Arabia, at the side of its foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, giving her words and the U.S. position more weight. U.S. President George W. Bush, traveling through the Mideast for eight days in part to build support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, made the same request from Jerusalem earlier in his trip.
She stepped gingerly around the sensitive question of whether the outreach should include Arab countries establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, their historical enemy.The only Arab nations that now have relations with Israel are Jordan and Egypt.
"Diplomatic relations, of course, is another matter and undoubtedly down the road," Rice said. "We hope that as progress is made between Israelis and Palestinians that there will be more efforts, that there will be more opportunity for outreach. But this will move at different speeds for different countries, we understand that."......"
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