Rice Urges Israel And Palestine To Decide On their Final Borders

May 2, 2008 5:44 a.m. EST

London, U.K. (AHN) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that it is high time the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators decided on their borders. She also said that it was imperative to end the argument over the expansion in the West Bank for a lasting peace settlement.

Rice was in London where donors are meeting on Friday for a strategy session to decide on where to concentrate the aid so as to maximize the help.

Rice is quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "Ultimately the best answer is to determine what's going to be in Israel and what's going to be in Palestine."

Rice further said that the world can help Palestine by sticking to their financial commitments. She said, "Israel has probably the lead responsibility in helping to improve the lives of the Palestinian people but it's a shared responsibility," reports AP.

Rice said that the international community has to deliver their promise of $7 billion in aid. The pledge was made in December at a donor conference. She urged the Arab states to do more.

Rice told BBC News, "It's extremely important that people pay their pledges. States that have resources ought to be looking not for how little they can do, but how much they can do."

Over the weekend Rice will be heading towards Jerusalem and the West Bank. President Bush is scheduled to visit Israel by the end of this month.

The U.S has been working to broker a peace deal between the two countries, although they have not advanced any concrete solutions to the problem.