WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said an inter-Palestinian cease-fire would not work unless more drastic steps are taken.
"The cease-fire is only an optical illusion that will blow up in a short time," he said after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the U.S. State Department. "So what is needed is to dismantle the (terrorist) infrastructure."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has managed to broker a cease-fire deal with militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop anti-Israeli violence.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Rice and Shalom discussed the need for both Israelis and Palestinians to meet their obligations.
They "talked about the need to move forward in terms of both sides meeting their obligations and responsibilities -- on the Palestinian side, to end terrorism, dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism; on the Israeli side, to meet their obligations as well," he said.
Under its commitments, Israel has vowed to stop settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories.
