The quest for Palestinian statehood might outlast the Bush presidency, Condoleezza Rice said.
“All that the President and I can do is to give every ounce of our energy to try and help to move forward on the two-state solution to establish the Palestinian state,” the U.S. secretary of state said in an interview Wednesday with Al-Hurra, the U.S.-government-funded Arabic language news channel. “I can’t tell you that it will all be done when we are finished here, but I can tell you that there will be a Palestinian state.”
Rice was speaking in the wake of Bush’s renewed push for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Bush originally envisioned Palestinian statehood by 2005; after his 2004 reelection, he reportedly told confidantes he hoped to see a Palestinian state before he leaves office.
