Related: Inter-armed clashes in Gaza Strip leave 3
dead, 45 wounded
Clashes between Fatah, Hamas rivals kill one
in Gaza
CAIRO, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Visiting U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice said here on Tuesday night that her country was deeply
concerned over the violence in the Palestinian territories among militants of
different political factions.
Rice made her remarks at a joint press conference
with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit after a group meeting with
foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan plus the six nations of the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) -- Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman,
Qatar and Kuwait.
"Innocent Palestinians are caught in the crossfire
and we call on all parties to stop," Rice said, calling on Palestinian factions
to form a coalition government that can represent the interests of the
Palestinians.
On Sunday, nine Palestinians were killed and 80
others wounded during fierce clashes among security members loyal to Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement, as well as militants in the
Hamas-led interior ministry auxiliary force.
The Palestinians need a government that could "engage
the international community and engage the broad consensus that a two-state
solution is the answer to both the Palestinians and Israel," she told reporters.
Rice said she probed ways of supporting Abbas with
eight Arab foreign ministers during the two-and-one-half group meeting.
"We talked about how to help Abbas in terms of a
Palestinian government and a Palestinian authority that is fully committed to
the Quartet principles," she said.
Rice denied it that the new mechanism "GCC plus two"
was directed at Iran over its nuclear program, saying that there was not a new
coalition.
The U.S. has been keeping close relations with GCC
states before this meeting, she said.
"This is a group of states that have a lot of answers
to the problems in the Middle East," she said, adding that the American and its
friends in the region wanted to "promote an environment in which extremism and
terrorism are fought and fought vigorously."
Asked to explain the meaning of the "New Middle
East," which she created after the eruption of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict in
July, Rice said the U.S. vision for a "future Middle East in which there is a
democratic Palestine living in peace with its democratic Israeli neighbor."
Earlier in the day, Rice arrived here on a two-day
visit to Egypt as part of a regional tour, which has already taken her to Saudi
Arabia. Enditem
