Rice will try unify Arab allies against Hamas
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice must try to reconcile dissonant elements of the Bush administration policy in the Middle East this week - defending the push for Palestinian elections won by proclaimed terrorists while appealing for help from the kind of autocratic regimes she says have had their day.
Rice, due to arrive in Cairo, Egypt, at about noon Irish time, is making her first trip to the region since the surprise Hamas victory in Palestinian elections last month, and does not plan to see any Palestinian officials.
She wants Egypt and Saudi Arabia to pressure the new Hamas leadership in the Palestinian territories to moderate its policies, the main message of two days of mostly closed-door diplomacy in Cairo and Riyadh.
She also wants those long-standing, largely autocratic governments to help isolate and financially strangle Hamas if the organisation will not accept Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence and agree to honour previous agreements.
