Condi Rice Being "Illicit" and No Two-State solution at Any Cost

In an interview with Matthew Swibel of Forbes Magazine in Jerusalem, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was very forthcoming regarding the background to her methods and goals in trying to manipulate a peace situation into the conflict between Jews and Arabs. Moreove, surprisingly, she would not commit to a "two-state solution" at any cost.

But first, before we highlight some of that, I found a funny, okay, Freudian, typo in the transcript.

Here:-

QUESTION: One of the challenges you have is to take the long view amidst, you know, a new cycle that is almost non-stop.

SECRETARY RICE: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: So that night I tried to tally a list of what your stated goals were.

SECRETARY RICE: Right.

QUESTION: So you were able to not to -- not freeze your plans.

SECRETARY RICE: Right.

QUESTION: And not illicit a specific consequence.

SECRETARY RICE: Right.

QUESTION: You were able to get a positive response of the new ideas even though there is nothing concrete.

SECRETARY RICE: Right. Right.

QUESTION: So it seems like you were able to keep moving along the two paths. It seems like it's an advantageous position.

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah.

In case you missed it, that should have been spelled "elicit".

And now, to the Pals. and Israelis and Rice committing herself not necessairly to a two-state solution. Now, that's news.:-

QUESTION: You are speaking to far more people here than in the past. Can you lay it out for me?

SECRETARY RICE: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: You know, your objective with this person is to do what?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, some of it's by role. Defense Minister Barak is the one since the idea has responsibility for things like movement and access, has responsibility for lifting check points, has responsibility for what I'll call -- what we are calling movement on the ground, that kind of day-to-day life of the Palestinians.

I spend most of my time with him on those kinds of issues, as well as the Phase 1 roadmap obligations, like removing outposts and settlement freeze because those are within his responsibility.

But with each of these leaders, they also, because you know, they're all political -- they're not like Gates and me, you know, kind of appointed bureaucrats. They are, in their own right, people who lead political parties and so are political leaders. And so I also spend some time talking about the process going forward on statehood and, you know, how the United States -- this is, in part, some reassurance or assurance to Israel and Israelis that the foundation for moving forward has also, at its core, a strong US-Israeli friendship and a strong US-Israeli alliance. Because they are, they are about to take, if they are willing to do it, decisions that are really hard, that will overturn a lot of totems, will overturn a lot of long-held positions. And I think they have to be confident that the United States is a good friend in all of this. So we talk about that as well.

With the two, with Shas, the leader of Shas and with the (inaudible) I just talked principally so they can hear first-hand, and Prime Minister Olmert thought this was a good idea, by the way, first-hand what we are trying to achieve, assuring them that we are not going to go after a two-state solution at any cost. That there has to be a -- that the Palestinians have to have a realistic prospect of a state, but the Israelis have to have a realistic prospect that that state is not going to undermine Israeli security by being unable to fight terror or the like.

QUESTION: Were there any suggestions you got from Olmert, specific phrases or a specific message?

SECRETARY RICE: No. No. We just -- I said, you know, there are some people I would like to meet with. I've met several times, I'll meet later with Avigdor Lieberman, for instance.

And so it's not a matter of being involved in Israeli domestic politics. It's really more a matter of saying, being able to say directly to each person and for them to hear it from me and for them to ask questions if they want.