RAMALLAH – Robert Gates on Friday became the first US Defense Secretary to visit the West Bank, meeting Palestinian leaders keenly aware of every little nod to their hopes of achieving statehood. Children in Ramallah stared as the long motorcade of US cars wound through the streets of the city north of Jerusalem.
With US diplomacy fully stretched over revolts in the Arab world and the air war with Libya, Gates was looking to revive stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, before another war fills the vacuum they have left for six months. “It is a great pleasure for me to welcome Secretary Gates to Palestine,” Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said.
“This is a time of great challenge throughout the region. But also a time of opportunity, requiring a redoubling of the effort aimed at pursuing the cause of peace, justice and security.” Gates noted that he was “the first American secretary of defense to visit Ramallah”, the Palestinians’ de facto capital and seat of Palestinian Authority ministries and the presidency of Mahmoud Abbas.
“I look forward to our talks … obviously the political developments around the region, but also the prospects for a two-state solution,” he said, referring to the elusive treaty that would end the 62-year-old conflict and create a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel.
The visit to Ramallah was another milestone for Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration who is expected to step down later this year. The former CIA director marked the end of US combat operations in Iraq last year and oversaw a buildup in the war effort in Afghanistan.
Following the route often used by his Obama administration colleague and peace envoy Senator George Mitchell, Gates first had talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of America’s closest ally in the turbulent region.
Netanyahu said Gates, who later went to the Jordanian capital Amman, had “been a champion of peace and security and our partner seeking to bolster our common security and defense interests in this area.”
