http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1400656.ece From The Sunday Times
February 18, 2007
Last chance summit for fading Condi
Sarah Baxter, Washington and Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv
WHEN Condoleezza Rice attends the summit between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Jerusalem tomorrow it will not only be the fate of the Middle East peace process at stake, but also the reputation of the US secretary of state.
Donald Trump, the property magnate famous for the televi-sion catchphrase “You’re fired”, spelt out the problem with Rice’s diplomacy in characteristically blunt language recently: “She goes on a plane, she gets off a plane, she waves, she goes there to meet some dictator . . . They talk, she leaves, she waves, the plane takes off. Nothing happens. It’s a joke . . . Nothing ever happens.”
The Jerusalem summit is already off to a difficult start. Although Saudi Arabia brokered a deal in Mecca last week for a new Palestinian government of national unity that includes members of the fundamentalist Hamas and the nationalist Fatah, the rival factions are still squabbling over control of the security forces and the distribution of cabinet posts.
America has also let it be known that the financial boycott of any new Palestinian government will continue so long as Hamas refuses to recognise Israel — a familiar hurdle.