Rice: Israel has to face 'hard decisions'

JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that Israel has some "hard decisions" to make as it moves toward peace with the Palestinians and the creation of a neighboring democracy.\nOn her first trip to the Middle East since taking over at the State Department, Rice also urged both sides to live up to their promises.\n"This is a hopeful time, but it is a time also of great responsibility for all of us to make certain that we act on the words that we speak," Rice said before meeting with Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon.\n"You're among friends," Sharon told her.\nRice was heading to the West Bank Monday for talks with the newly elected Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas.\nAhead of her session with Sharon, Rice saw Israel's foreign minister, Silvan Shalom. \n"We will ask of our partners and our friends in Israel that Israel continues to make the hard decisions that must be taken in order to promote peace and ... the emergence of a democratic Palestinian state," Rice said at the appearance.\nAt a stop at Yad Vashem, the Israeli memorial for the 6 million Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II, Rice declared, "This is a time of optimism because fundamental changes are under way in the Middle East."\nShe cited the Palestinian election and thanked Egypt for holding an upcoming summit meeting. Rice reassured Israelis of President Bush's commitment to the peace process and getting it back on track. \n"This is a time of opportunity and a time we have to seize," she said.\nShalom thanked her for coming, and said Rice and the United States can help end "the infrastructure of terrorism" and "enable us to build an infrastructure of peace."\nEarlier Sunday, in Turkey, Rice said the Bush administration wants help from Turkey and other countries to "sustain the momentum" toward Middle East peace.\nShe also sought to reassure Turkey that the administration wants Iraq to remain whole and at peace with its neighbors.\n"Israel deserves to live in peace in the Middle East and the Jewish people deserve the respect of their neighbors," Rice said following meetings with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.\n"We have been very clear that incitement cannot be ignored," Rice said, adding that Arab governments cannot consistently say they support peace while tolerating horrific characterizations of Jews in the media.\nGul sought to play down both anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment in the region.\nNow that "Israel and the Palestinians do have their own governments it will be possible," for other countries in the region to be more helpful in the peace process, Gul said.\n"The negative sentiments that each side has for the other will disappear when the peace process comes into effect and the Palestinian and Israeli states live in peace, as good neighbors," he added.\nTurkey is an important U.S. ally straddling Europe and the Middle East. Anti-U.S. sentiments have been strong in Turkey since the start of the war in neighboring Iraq.\nAfter the Middle East, Rice returns to Europe this week for stops in Italy, France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Some of the European stops pave the way for Bush's own European trip later this month.\nTurks worry the war in Iraq could lead to the disintegration of the neighboring country and the creation of a Kurdish state in the northern areas. That could embolden Kurds in southeastern Turkey, where the Turkish army has been battling Kurdish rebels since 1984. The fighting has left 37,000 dead.