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Wolfensohn steps down as Gaza envoy
RELATEDYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSWASHINGTON (CNN) -- The diplomat representing the Mideast quartet on issues surrounding Israeli withdrawal from Gaza is stepping down, saying the work has gone "above my pay grade." James Wolfensohn will not be replaced immediately as special envoy for the quartet of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia, which has pushed for a "road map" to peace in the Middle East. Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank, announced the move on Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "With the government of Hamas having taken over with the Palestinians, it's a very difficult movement to be able to try and negotiate any independent type of arrangements that would affect the future of Gaza and the West Bank, because of the emphasis that Hamas puts on the destruction of the state of Israel and the less-than-communicative relationship with that state," Wolfensohn said. Hamas came to power via a landslide victory in January's Palestinian elections. It refuses to renounce violence or recognize Israel's right to exist, and the United States, Israel and European Union consider the organization to be a terrorist group. The militant group's stance has led to a cutoff of funding from Israel and the West. "It would surprise me if one could win by getting all the kids out of school or starving the Palestinians," Wolfensohn said, according to a State Department transcript from Monday's news conference. "And I don't think anyone in the quartet believes that to be the policy, although sometimes it is made to appear that that's what it is. I think that's a losing gambit." He added, "But I do think that the Palestinians need to understand that it is not business as usual. Here you have a Palestinian group which has said that it wants to destroy its neighbor. And I guess if Canada did that to the United States or New Zealand did it to Australia, the reaction would not be very positive in terms of the other state and that's what you're finding here." Rice said the work needed in the region is beyond that of a special envoy, and she said she was not seeking a replacement for Wolfensohn. "If we believed that conditions were such that a special envoy could really do his work at this particularly time, we wouldn't be seeking a replacement," she said. "Jim Wolfensohn, I hope, would be staying. "What we need to do is to try, over the next period of time, to get the political conditions right so that we can move forward." Rice said she hoped Wolfensohn would return in an active role if conditions in the Palestinian-Israeli situation change. She said the United States would be having discussions soon with the new Israeli government and continues to support and help Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. 
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