UN envoy to Mideast says concerned Israel hasn't done enough to help Abbas - Haaretz

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Thu., August 23, 2007 Elul 9, 5767

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		UN envoy to the Middle East Michael Williams: Israel should do more to boost Abbas. (AP Archives)

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Last update - 22:14 22/08/2007

UN envoy to Mideast says concerned Israel hasn't done enough to help Abbas

By Reuters

United Nations envoy to the Middle East Michael Williams called on Israel on Wednesday to take more far-reaching steps to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, warning momentum in bilateral talks could be lost.

While Williams said Israel's release of some 250 Palestinian prisoners and transfer of frozen funds to Abbas were "positive signs" following Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in June, he added: "I'm concerned that we haven't seen further steps. I'd like to see further steps."

Williams suggested these next steps include easing travel restrictions for Palestinians in the West Bank. He also urged Israel to consider evacuating unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank, as well as an additional release of prisoners.

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Army Radio reported that President Shimon Peres met with Williams on Wednesday.

Abbas' office condemned Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on Wednesday, saying that the strikes make progress in peace talks impossible.

"It is impossible to conduct a peace process, to advance negotiations and to achieve results as long as Israel continues with its policy of military strikes," said Abbas' office in a statement.

Senior Abbas aides say Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has yet to deliver on a promise he made on August 6 to approve the removal of some of the hundreds of roadblocks that impede Palestinian travel in the West Bank.

Olmert and Abbas, who are expected to meet again next week and in early September, are trying to hammer out an agreement on "principles" for establishing a Palestinian state.

The goal is to complete that agreement in time for a U.S.-sponsored conference on Palestinian statehood expected to take place in November in the Washington, D.C. area, Israeli, Palestinian and Western officials said.

Williams said the next two meetings between Olmert and Abbas would be "very important" in determining what could come out of the November conference.

The European Union wants the conference to launch final-status negotiations over borders, the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, a senior EU diplomat said.

But Williams said it was "impossible to say at this juncture" whether Olmert and Abbas would be prepared to announce the start of full-blown negotiations at the conference.

A senior Western official said the parties might instead agree to appoint working groups to tackle the key issues.

"I think it is possible to make a deal," Williams said. But, he added, "Any deal would have to be put to the Palestinian people as a whole and then it would be for them to decide in a referendum whether this is something they want to support or whether they don't support it."

Gaza's border crossings with Israel and Egypt have been closed to all but humanitarian supplies since Hamas' takeover, prompting aid groups to warn of an approaching crisis.

Williams, who will leave his UN post in September to serve as Middle East envoy to the new British prime minister, said "meltdown is too strong" of a word to describe the economic situation in Gaza but that conditions were deteriorating.

"We do not see how that can be changed short of the opening of additional crossing points, and in particular Karni," Williams said, referring to the commercial crossing that served as Gaza's economic lifeline.

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1.	Abbas correct: peace talks & strikes incompatible	20:41	\|	Ivar	22/08/07

2.	To bolster Abbas dictator regime is a violation of counter terror	20:45	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

3.	warning momentum in bilateral talks could be lost	20:50	\|	Mary	22/08/07

4.	Increasing settlements is slaming Carter apartheid book ,	20:57	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

5.	arabs politics & arabs urban terror undermines next Washington su	21:03	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

6.	Same as Sharon`s separation wall , make no territorial and politi	21:05	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

7.	Mecca deal is dead has killed pal state	21:06	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

8.	Road blocks impede west bank pal terror	21:09	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

9.	Momentum in bilateral talks is fabrication of false sense of emer	21:14	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

10.	There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza,Hamas tunnels work full-t	21:19	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

11.	release of terrorists is against counter terrorism policies	21:21	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

12.	Abbas and Gangs better talk under fire than whining	21:25	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

13.	And what, I ask, has the UN done for Israel with regard to 1701??	21:26	\|	Ehud	22/08/07

14.	Mecca deal is dead ,What could be the outcome of the Nov. Confere	21:28	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

15.	help to abbas	21:30	\|	michel	22/08/07

16.	Final status negotiations is arab way to justify	21:31	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

17.	pals refugees problem is undermined by Israelis-Arabs	21:34	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

18.	Let see Washington , London , Moscow slice their borders	21:37	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

19.	It`s always on Israel to do more	21:39	\|	Michael	22/08/07

20.	pals are arabs exploited as pawns by Iran and Arab League	21:40	\|	Joseph E .	22/08/07

21.	60 years of stupid talk and another nitwit appears	22:05	\|	victor hardman	22/08/07

22.	Help Abbas move to 22 arab states	22:35	\|	sam	22/08/07

23.	Possession is nine tenths of the law.	22:40	\|	Uzi	22/08/07

24.	Joseph E - No Need to Evacuate	22:41	\|	Mark of Lewiston	22/08/07

25.	Fair and practical plan to sort out Hamas and end the occupation:	22:43	\|	Uzi	22/08/07

26.	Williams Is Part of The Bash Israel Brigade	22:45	\|	J.Thompson	22/08/07

27.	Israel has given Abbas more than enough	22:55	\|	* BEN JABO	22/08/07

28.	Tell it like it is WILLIAMS ISN`T A UN ENVOY	23:05	\|	* BEN JABO	22/08/07

29.	Fatah = Hamas = Jihad = PRC = DFLP = PFLP = etc = Amalek!	23:06	\|	Michael Williams	22/08/07

30.	24Mark of Lewiston,considering the disgusting behaviour of the	23:09	\|	lakshmi	22/08/07

31.	Ehud	23:12	\|	Bob	22/08/07

32.	Mr Williams, please	23:13	\|	KUTW	22/08/07

33.	Mr, Williams: pals obligation	23:15	\|	KUTW	22/08/07

34.	Mr Williams, a question	23:17	\|	KUTW	22/08/07

35.	A reminder to Mr Williams	23:21	\|	KUTW	22/08/07

36.	UN envoy to Mideast says concerned Israel hasn`t done enough to h	23:21	\|	alex	22/08/07

37.	Back to the Home	23:22	\|	James	22/08/07

38.	#s 4 to 20 Joseph E	23:31	\|	Mary	22/08/07

39.	Ivar, #1	23:40	\|	Jason, Ph.D.	22/08/07

40.	MULL!!!!!!! Mr Williams, MULL??!!	23:59	\|	Yaakov Sullivan	22/08/07

41.	Mr Williams: Shalit	00:10	\|	KUTW	23/08/07

42.	#19 Michael	00:17	\|	Boycott	23/08/07

43.	Lakshmi - Freedom of Choice	01:15	\|	Mark of Lewiston	23/08/07

44.	Israel and Abbas	01:44	\|	Keith T	23/08/07

45.	# 38 Mary @ Boston	02:01	\|	Joseph E .	23/08/07

46.	I wonder a certain thing about the peace process	06:07	\|	T	23/08/07

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