Rice and Livni meet in Washington

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met Wednesday evening with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a joint press conference after the meeting, Rice said that the US cannot deny Israel the right to fight terrorism. She added that she hopes international dialogue on the Middle East situation can take place in a context that recognizes that violence and terrorism are never justified. Livni emphasized that Hamas will soon take over the Palestinian government, and said that any legitimate Palestinian government had to recognize certain conditions, among them recognizing the right of Israel to exist and dismantling terror organizations.