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Mideast Peace Envoy to Meet with Israeli PM Next Week
June 17, 2009 12:02 AM
ABC News' Kirit Radia reports: Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell will travel to Paris next week to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, according to State Department officials. Mitchell hinted today that peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians could resume within "weeks."
The details of Mitchell's trip are still being finalized, the officials said, including whether he will make any other stops.
Mitchell will be the first U.S. official from Washington to meet with Netanyahu's since the prime minister's major policy speech Sunday, in which he for the first time endorsed the goal of a Palestinian state, albeit with major caveats. Netanyahu did not, however, agree to U.S. demands that Israel halt the growth of settlements in the West Bank. That matter has led to rare tension in the U.S.-Israeli relationship.
Mitchell met with Netanyahu last week in Israel during his fourth trip to the region. He also stopped in Syrian for the first time in his new role as envoy.
Today, Mitchell told reporters he would continue talks with all sides to achieve a comprehensive peace, including Syria, and said peace talks could restart "very soon," and that preparatory talks could conclude "a matter of weeks, not many months."
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said recently that the U.S. would likely make a major policy pronouncement on the Middle East peace process before the end of July. Mitchell did not dispute this when asked about it today.
He reiterated the U.S. demand that Israel halt settlements, including so-called "natural growth" of existing growth, though he refused to be pinned down on what that means, admitting that different parties have different definitions. He rejected Israeli reports that the U.S. had struck a deal with Israel about settlements, calling the reports "highly inaccurate."
Asked how negotiations will be able to progress if Hamas, branded a terror organization by the U.S. and not part of the talks because it refuses to recognize Israel, is not at the table Mitchell replied only: "We will move forward."
June 17, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (10)
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Is it time for Obama to press Bibi to hand over Jersusalem??
Posted by: carl | Jun 17, 2009 1:26:46 PM
Terry, Eilat-Israel:"Sorry, 80% of the Jewish population in Judea & Samaria is concentrated in small towns along the Green Line or around Jerusalem. So, you are incorrect or deliberately misleading. "
That is NOT what you said. If Israel then agreed to remove the 20% of settlements that are not "along" the Green Line (nice vague term there), including those on all the best aquifers, perhaps a settlement could be reached.
I do not want to be misleading, I simply invite people to look up a map showing all the settlement locations in the West Bank (the facts on the ground aren't secret or in much dispute) and decide for themselves how to judge the integrity of your remark:
"The vast majority of what are falsely called settlements are in reality small towns close to the Green Line."
Anyone reading, please go and find the facts and judge for yourself.
Posted by: jhw539 | Jun 17, 2009 10:54:59 AM
jhw539 - Sorry, 80% of the Jewish population in Judea & Samaria is concentrated in small towns along the Green Line or around Jerusalem. So, you are incorrect or deliberately misleading. And none of these areas would ever be part of any Palestinian state, including E. Jerusalem. An example would be Maale Adumim.
Posted by: Terry, Eilat - Israel | Jun 17, 2009 10:15:02 AM
Terry, Eilat-Israel:"The vast majority of what are falsely called settlements are in reality small towns close to the Green Line (an armistice line, not a border. "
Uh, you know there are publicly available maps of where the settlements are that clearly and directly indicates your statement that most of them are near the Green Line is a lie. I encourage anyone who cares to educate themselves on this issue to simply google up Israeli settlement map and look into it, find a relatively non-biased sight and get the facts.
The right of return is a red herring. The settlement issue is most definitively not.
Posted by: jhw539 | Jun 17, 2009 9:47:38 AM
By the way, there are reports today in the Israeli media that Hamas thugs are helping the Revolutionary Guard put down demonstrations in Iran, in support of Ahmadinejad. So, Palestinians are beating up Iranians in the streets of Teheran.
Think about that for a while.
Posted by: Terry, Eilat - Israel | Jun 17, 2009 5:02:45 AM
The settlemnent issue is a red herring.
The vast majority of what are falsely called settlements are in reality small towns close to the Green Line (an armistice line, not a border. Jerusalem is not a settlement, it is the capital of Israel. Many ''settlements'' are towns re-established after being destroyed by Jordan in 1948.
The vast majority of settlements are in areas that will never be part of any Palestinian entity, including Jerusalem.
So what does it really matter if there is continued construction in these areas? The only possible meaning is that this is an acceptance of the palestinian demand for a full return to the 1948 armistice line.
Posted by: Terry, Eilat - Israel | Jun 17, 2009 4:48:41 AM
What is the real reason Palestinians cannot come to say that Israel is the state of the Jewish people? Netanyahu got it right in his speech. Palestinians, including these imaginary moderates of Fatah & their useless non-entity of a leader Abbas, accept NO Jewish state, within any borders & no matter what concessions Israel makes.
Their idea is the "right of return" of phoney refugees (and who is a refugee after 60 years?) to flood Israel with hostile Arabs & thus eliminate a Jewish majority state.
Posted by: Terry, Eilat - Israel | Jun 17, 2009 4:37:23 AM
Considering that the "moderate" Abbas & his Fatah crooks, thieves, & terrorists, have rejected totally Netanyahu's speech, I wonder what they will talk about. Actually, these ''moderates'' are threatening another intifada, terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians.
They are also outraged at Obama's reaction to Netanyahu's speech - they expected Obama to hand them Israel's surrender on a silver platter. What they really wanted was for Obama to publically call for Israel's destruction which is really their true condition for ''peace'' ......
Posted by: Terry, Eilat - Israel | Jun 17, 2009 4:29:40 AM
Look, one of Natenyaho's demands is that they call themselves jews, and if you think Israel is anything but hard-dealing, your a fool. So they're hard-dealing jews, and that's that.
Posted by: MarkLeavenworth | Jun 17, 2009 1:32:35 AM
A disarmed Palestinian state that can't defend itself? What is Netanyahu smoking? He wants to mess with them more I suppose.
Posted by: Huh | Jun 17, 2009 1:12:52 AM
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