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Last update - 23:14 10/10/2009
Netanyahu to have additional meeting with Mitchell on Sunday
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Tags: Goldstone Gaza Report 

Special Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell will wrap up his current shuttle talks on Sunday with a second meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli official said on Saturday.

Mitchell talked with the Prime Minister for two hours on Friday about peace efforts, and the two agreed to meet again in the next few days, said a statement released by Netanyahu's office after the closed-door meeting.

The statement described the meeting as effective and constructive but did not detail its contents. It said Mitchell and his advisers would meet the next day with senior Netanyahu aides.
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On Saturday Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with the U.S. envoy and told him that he intends on appealing to the United Nations Human Rights Council again in order to vote on the Goldstone report in the UN Security Council.

Top negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Abbas told Mitchell that the PA already took actions in Geneva to protect the Palestinian people, hoping that the vote will take place in the near future.

According to Al Ayyam, Abbas said in his meeting with Mitchell that peace talks cannot continue without a complete settlement freeze and before a framework for negotiations is established.

He also stressed Israel's obligation according to the road map to open the PLO offices in Jerusalem.

In the two hour meeting between Abbas and Mitchell, the PA President aired concerns against Israel on the subject of Jerusalem, while Mitchell emphasized the U.S. commitment to establishing an independent Palestinian state.

The negotiations are expected to continue in Washington in two weeks ? wherein each side will carry out separate discussions with the U.S. with no direct contact between the PA and Israel.


When President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, his Mideast envoy was hard at work in Jerusalem trying to revive a faltering peace process on which Obama has staked his credibility and that of the United States.

Israel's refusal to freeze settlement construction, a Palestinian refusal to resume peace talks without that freeze and widespread predictions of failure overshadowed Mitchell's meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders - underscoring the tough road ahead for the Obama administration's Mideast peace ambitions.

Also on Friday Mitchell visited Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where Abbas reiterated his demand for a full Israeli settlement freeze, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Leaving the meeting, Mitchell told reporters that efforts to find a solution would continue, although at a lower level for the time being.

"We invited the two sides to send their representatives to Washington in the very near future to continue our discussions," he said.

Obama began his term in office with a Mideast peace push that included an unequivocal call for Israel to halt settlement activity in the West Bank -a call that was enthusiastically embraced by the Palestinians.

Though Netanyahu agreed in principle to the formation of a Palestinian state and said he would limit settlement construction for a limited time, he refused to agree to a full halt.

At a summit meeting last month in New York, Obama appeared to yield to the Israelis, which - along with Obama's growing domestic woes - made him appear weak to both sides.

Commenting on the president's award Friday, former Israeli U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman said he hoped Obama would live up to the expectations the Nobel committee had vested in him.

"I'm a little surprised at the choice, not because I don't appreciate the efforts of the president of the United States for peace, but because in my opinion the test is in the results and not in the attempt," Gillerman told Israel Radio.

"I think that at this time he has done very little, at least from the point of view of results," he said, calling the choice "somewhat premature."

Abbas has been weakened recently by public protests against his decision not to pursue war crimes charges against Israel over the Gaza fighting earlier this year.

In Syria on Friday, at least 2,000 Palestinians marched in the Yarmouk refugee camp carrying banners calling Abbas a traitor. There have also been protests in the Gaza Strip.

Under attack from his own people, who accuse him of buckling to Israeli and U.S. pressure, Abbas could find it far more difficult to compromise on his call for a settlement freeze.

In an interview published Friday in Haaretz, Jordan's king, Abdullah II, warned that the sides were sliding back into the darkness.

He also expressed alarm at repeated clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem, describing the city as a tinderbox.

There were isolated outbreaks of stone-throwing in Arab neighborhoods of the city on Friday after Muslim prayers, but demonstrators were dispersed by police who were deployed in strength, expecting disturbances.

Police said 11 officers were lightly injured by stones and two demonstrators were arrested. There was no word of any Palestinian casualties.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said that on Thursday night police arrested 14 Palestinians suspected of throwing rocks or molotov cocktails over the past few days.

There have been repeated outbursts of unrest since last week, when rumors spread among Palestinians of an attempt by Jewish extremists to harm the Islamic holy sites in the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

No such attempt was made and nobody has so far been seriously injured.

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      1.   Netanyahu, like Brown, is not a visionary leader 03:30  |  Fatima Angelique 10/10/09
      2.   demands 12:53  |  Yaron 10/10/09
      3.   And what will a vote prove? 13:34  |  Murray of Montreal 10/10/09
      4.   to yaron 14:18  |  proud american 10/10/09
      5.   vote 14:50  |  oz 10/10/09
      6.   unrest is due to iran syria crisis; rest is irrelevant ..... 16:00  |  bernard ross 10/10/09
      7.   Walking the Diplomatic Tight-Rope 16:42  |  Stephen 10/10/09
      8.   #3 Murray----so that is the price???. 16:42  |  Labhras 10/10/09
      9.   yaron, murray, oz 16:53  |  kibishi 10/10/09
      10.   time to get serious stop propping up this tin horn confront abbas 17:11  |  ralph 10/10/09
      11.   The never ending carousel. 17:19  |  Stephen. 10/10/09
      12.   Abbas is not a partner for peace 17:42  |  fredyr 10/10/09
      13.   Watch for yet another anti-Israel hatefest at UN 17:45  |  Steve 10/10/09
      14.   Proud American (#4) 17:47  |  Gil 10/10/09
      15.   Abbas was the one pushing for the Gaza war 17:59  |  1800 10/10/09
      16.   Labhras (#7) Sorry but 18:37  |  Gil 10/10/09
      17.   One of the accused 18:47  |  Mark Lincoln 10/10/09
      18.   Gil 19:03  |  Robert 10/10/09
      19.   can someone say flip flop 19:05  |  vik 10/10/09
      20.   Say good. 19:13  |  Bazmann 10/10/09
      21.   Abbas, in the face of criticism, takes the easy way out 19:20  |  Joe Frazier 10/10/09
      22.   Write on, Gil 19:24  |  yona 10/10/09
      23.   Goldstone Report most important event in 40 years 19:57  |  Don Boston 10/10/09
      24.   #13 et al 20:15  |  bob 10/10/09
      25.   Labhrat didn`t notice... 20:22  |  SDHD 10/10/09
      26.   i don`t blame abbas; not one IOTA! 20:38  |  eric 10/10/09
      27.   Too late 21:12  |  Confused 10/10/09
      28.   sdhs---only knows how to insult---not discuss. 21:29  |  Labhras 10/10/09
      29.   Abbas encouraged Gaza massacre. 21:52  |  Ryan 10/10/09
      30.   America and the scoundrels 22:48  |  Brod 10/10/09
      31.   Netanyahu and Mitchell 01:13  |  Brod 11/10/09
      32.   "reports", #23 01:33  |  bob 11/10/09
      33.   Bob (#19) 13:59  |  Gil 11/10/09
      34.   Bob (#19) 14:00  |  Gil 11/10/09
      35.   Gil # 33 you are wrong gaza is an Israeli prison. 17:06  |  American in NY 11/10/09
      36.   #33 Gil, follow the bouncing ball..... 02:43  |  Johnboy 12/10/09
      37.   American in NY (#35) 12:07  |  Gil 12/10/09
      38.   #37 Gil, try again 12:53  |  Johnboy 12/10/09
      39.   Johnboy (#38) 15:30  |  Gil 12/10/09
      40.   #39 Having a good laugh at Gil`s straw man (3rd try) 00:33  |  Johnboy 14/10/09
      41.   #39 4th try to respond to Gil 07:32  |  Johnboy 14/10/09
      42.   Johnboy (#41) If you have not understood 14:13  |  Gil 14/10/09
      43.   #42 Oh, I understand a straw man argument, Gil 00:14  |  Johnboy 15/10/09
      44.   Johnboy (#41) Here is the levy on trade part we are signtory to 16:51  |  Gil 15/10/09
      45.   JOHNBOY If merchandise pass between two countries 18:35  |  Gil 15/10/09
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