[IMRA: While official Israel celebrates this response, interpreting it as a clear and straightforward stand requiring Hamas to be immediately disarmed  and otherwise barred from the PLC elections, Secretary Rice's statement is  the absolute opposite. 1. Instead of calling on the PA to immediately disarm the terrorists, she  shows understanding for this taking an open-ended period of time - "eventually" they have to be disarmed. 2. Instead of calling to bar Hamas from running in the PLC unless it first  disarms, she says that "you cannot have armed groups ultimately participating in politics with no expectation that they're going to disarm"  - a requirement that could just as easily be met by Hamas saying that they "expect" to "ultimately" disarm. It is doubtful that Ms. Rice's Good Friday Agreement was intended to add  irony to her response.  The Good Friday Agreement, a poorly written text (a critical phrase made it possible for the IRA to claim it didn't have to disarm until the very end of the process), was prepared by the same Senator Mitchell who went on to prepare the "Mitchell Report" - a similarly botched job.] Questions Taken at Princeton University's Celebration of the 75th Anniversary Of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Princeton University New Jersey

DEAN SLAUGHTER: Secretary Rice has agreed to take questions. Please raise your hand and then wait for the microphone.

QUESTION: I'd like to thank you for coming, first off. I've just been curious -- seems to me that there's been some sort of disconnect with a lot of the rhetoric that you've been presenting here today and with a lot of our actions in the Middle East. One example is that it seems that we've started to take a lot of a softer line with Hamas in Palestine, which is an organization that I think really doesn't fare with the ideals that you've been promoting here. I was wondering if you could try and explain that disconnect we've been seeing.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. It's a very good question. We've been very clear that Hamas is a terrorist group and it has to be disbanded, both for peace and security and in the Middle East and for the proper functioning of the Palestinian Authority. After all, it is a roadmap obligation of the Palestinian Authority to disband militias and armed resistance groups. There are periods of time of transition in which one has to give some space to the participants, in this case the Palestinians, to begin to come to a
new national compact. But I cannot imagine, in the final analysis, a new national compact that leaves an armed resistance group within the political space. You cannot simultaneously keep an option on politics and an option on violence. There simply isn't a case that I can think of internationally where that's been permitted to happen. For instance, in the Good Friday Agreement it was understood that when Sinn Fein came into politics and eventually the IRA would disarm and perhaps,
hopefully, that process is now underway. We did not permit the Afghan warlords to keep their weapons and participate as candidates in politics. They had to make a choice. And so it is absolutely the case that you cannot have armed groups ultimately participating in politics with no expectation that they're going to disarm. But we are very clearheaded about Hamas. Hamas stands for one-state solution, not a two-state solution. Hamas, therefore, stands for the destruction of Israel. Hamas is an organization that asks Palestinian mothers and fathers to give their children up to make themselves suicide bombers. And it is a real detriment and block to further peace in the Middle East, so we're not at all confused by this. We do, I think, need to give the Palestinians some space to try and reconcile their national politics, but they're going to eventually have to disarm these groups. They can't have it both ways...
 

JERUSALEM - Israel has suspended its offensive in the Gaza Strip following a lull in rocket attacks by Palestinian militants but is ready to continue the operation if the rocket fire resumes, officials said Sunday. The officials said the operation, which included a series of air strikes last week, achieved its goal of weakening militants' ability to attack Israel from Gaza. Militants have not fired rockets into Israel since Tuesday, the army said. With the break in fighting, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas spoke by telephone Sunday and agreed to meet soon, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The leaders "agreed to tighten co-operation and to work together to advance the peace process," Sharon's office said in a statement. It did not give a date for the meeting, though Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said preparations would begin within days. Sharon and Abbas had been tentatively scheduled to meet Sunday, but the summit was cancelled after Israel launched its offensive last week. Responding to a barrage of rockets, Israel carried out a series of air strikes in Gaza, killing four militants in pinpoint attacks and destroying buildings it said were used to produce or store weapons. Israel also arrested more than 400 suspected militants in the West Bank. Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet the offensive dealt a tough blow to the Hamas militant group and was meant to send a stern message that violence from Gaza will not be tolerated now that Israel has withdrawn from the coastal territory. Mofaz told the ministers that Israeli forces remain on high alert. "The operation is not over," he said, according to meeting participants. However, Israeli security officials said the operation was informally halted over the weekend and will only continue if the rocket attacks resume. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under security regulations. Israel has not carried out an air strike since Thursday, two days after the last rocket was fired. The militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad last week both declared a halt to the rocket attacks. The fighting broke out just weeks after Israel completed its withdrawal from Gaza - a move that raised hopes around the world that peace talks could soon resume. Erekat said a halt in the latest fighting "serves the interests" of Israelis and Palestinians. "As Palestinians we are fully committed to the cessation of violence against Israelis anywhere, and I hope the Israeli announcement today constitutes a full cessation by Israel of violence against Palestinians anywhere," he said. But Hamas rejected the halt in the offensive as a "political manoeuvre aimed at blackmailing our people and putting pressure on the Palestinian Authority to confront the resistance factions," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. Abbas is under heavy international pressure to disarm Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups. Abbas refuses to confront the militants, fearing civil war, and instead has tried to co-opt them by inviting them to participate in Palestinian legislative elections. In a prelude to January parliamentary elections, Hamas participated in a round of municipal polls last week. The group captured control of just 13 of 104 local councils, less than expected. Sharon reiterated his opposition to Hamas' participation in the parliamentary election, telling the cabinet that it violated the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, Israeli media reported. The peace plan calls on the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups. Also Sunday, Israel said Arab militants are planning attacks against Israelis in Egypt's Sinai resorts and urged its citizens not to travel to the popular vacation spot for the upcoming Jewish holidays. Danny Arditi, an adviser to Sharon who leads the government's Counterterrorism Bureau, told Israel Radio there was information that the militants planning attacks already were located in Sinai. By Joseph Fiederman.