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Ambassador Rice to Visit Israel and Palestinian Territories, Will Meet with Netanyahu and Abbas
October 15, 2009 5:27 PM
ABC News' Kirit Radia reports: US and Israeli officials tell ABC News that the Obama administration is sending its top UN envoy to visit Israel and the Palestinian Territories next week.
Officials say next Wednesday US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice will address an annual conference hosted by Israeli President Shimon Peres, but will also hold bilateral meetings with senior Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because Rice’s trip has yet to be announced.
US officials insist Rice is not being deployed to negotiate the peace process and that the purpose of the trip is to address Peres’ “Facing Tomorrow” conference on behalf of the administration, but acknowledge that the matter will likely come up in bilateral meetings she will hold with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during what is expected to be a three day visit.
Her visit comes at a delicate time as the US is pushing to break an impasse between the parties over Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. US negotiator George Mitchell has been meeting with both sides in recent weeks to try to bridge the gap. Today he is meeting with Israeli officials and will meet with the Palestinians next week.
The US envoy to the UN’s visit also comes after a recent United Nations report by South African judge Richard Goldstone found Israeli and Hamas guilty of “war crimes” during a war in Gaza earlier this year. The US had been trying to suppress the report’s discussion in the UN Security Council for fear it would derail peace talks.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to deliver an assessment on the administration’s Middle East peace efforts to President Obama in the coming days. She told the BBC in an interview yesterday that her report was due Friday, but officials say it is more likely to come next week after Mitchell meets with Palestinian officials.
October 15, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (5)
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Wow ABC News suddenly remembers where the Palestinian territories are located! It's amazingly ignorant, a complete lack of journalistic integrity and ethics that ABC doesn't report what's been going on in Gaza. ABC failed to adequately cover "Operation Cast Lead" particularly from a Palestinian perspective including the massacre of over 1,400 people. These were to a great extent innocent men, women and children who the UN and other investigations revealed had been intentionally targeted and murdered by the IDF. Where's ABC's coverage of the Goldstone Report, the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch investigations of what occurred in Gaza last December-January? Where's ABC's coverage of life in Gaza after Israel's invasion? Where's ABC's coverage of the ongoing blockade on Gaza? Do you really consider yourselves journalists? You sully the name and profession of journalism.
Posted by: John S. Hancock | Oct 26, 2009 3:59:19 PM
Current trends seem to suggest that the future of Israel will be that of a binational state. While this is not something most Israelis want, even many conservative Israelis have concluded it may be inevitable.
Posted by: Canada Guy | Oct 19, 2009 6:43:39 PM
This is highly misleading:
"the US is pushing to break an impasse between the parties over Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem"
the impasse on what is here euphemistically called 'settlements' is between Israel and the rest of the world.
Posted by: Flash Override | Oct 16, 2009 4:39:28 PM
Posted by: Bailama | Oct 15, 2009 5:34:07 PM
Good to see Rice meeting with with Netanyahu and Abbas. Let's hope Israel doesn't attack Iran. Maybe she can them out of it.
Posted by: Bailama | Oct 15, 2009 5:32:37 PM
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