Netanyahu and Mitchell call for direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to drop his objections and move from indirect talks to face-to-face negotiations.
By Reuters Tags: Israel news Middle East peace Benjamin Netanyahu Barack ObamaPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he wanted to quickly get down to full-scale peace talks on Wednesday as he met U.S. envoy George Mitchell to hear the latest from the Palestinian camp.
"Shall we get on with it? Let's get on with the talks," Netanyahu said. "That's my whole message...what I've been saying for a year and a half: Let's get on with it."
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. envoy George Mitchell and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. |
| Photo by: Getty Images and Reuters |
Mitchell, on his fifth shuttle since so-called "proximity talks" began in May after a hiatus of nearly 18 months in the peace process, told him: "We share your objective."
In what appears to be a carefully choreographed diplomatic operation over the coming days, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is now expected to drop his objections and move from indirect talks to face-to-face negotiations.
U.S. President Barack Obama wants to see the peace process upgraded to the level it broke off at nearly two years ago when Israel carried out a January 2009 offensive against Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The window of opportunity is narrowing. A partial 10-month moratorium on Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank, ordered by Netanyahu last November, is due to end on Sept. 26, posing a potentially fatal threat to the dialogue.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed Mitchell's assessment. "We continue to work closely with both sides to get to direct talks as soon as possible," she said, describing the Mitchell-Netanyahu session as "a good, productive meeting."
Mitchell had "serious and positive" talks with Abbas on Tuesday, a senior Palestinian official said. There was no agreement yet to move to direct talks but "we are continuing our efforts to reach a formula" for final peace treaty negotiations.
But Palestinian sources said Abbas could decide "within days" to begin face-to-face talks, provided he received political backing for the move from major powers.
Abbas was seeking a reiteration of a March 19 statement by the major "quartet" of powers involved in Middle East diplomacy - the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations - calling on Israel to halt settlement activities in the West Bank and reach a full peace agreement with the Palestinians within 24 months.
If that happens, he said this week, "I will immediately go to direct talks, because it includes everything I am asking for."
Sources involved with efforts to bring the sides together said Abbas would tell Mitchell this Sunday whether he was willing to return to direct talks, and that if his decision was positive, the Quartet would issue its statement on Monday or Tuesday, giving Abbas the international backing he seeks.
In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had discussed the matter with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Quartet's Middle East envoy.
"If a Quartet statement can be helpful in encouraging the parties to move forward, obviously, I think that's something that we the United States support," Crowley said.
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Netanyahu will not allow a viable Palestinian nation to evolve.
Abbas has 3 clear parameters for talks, which are entirely reasonable and acceptable to the international community: 1 - A tripartite meeting between Israeli, PA and US negotiators to develop the agenda for direct talks, based on a principal of a two-state solution and the 1967 boundaries - as the UN and everyone else wants. 2. - The US, as the supposed mediator and honest broker (some hope!) to lay out the groundwork for talks and objectives. 3. - Negotiations to take place on the basis set out by the Middle East Quartet, namely an end to Israeli occupation and respect for international laws and UN decisions. These are pretty obvious essentials and Israel should, if it values the remaining vestiges of international patience with its 40-year prevarication and obstructionism, enter the talks on that basis in good faith. Not Bibi and the coalition though, they are still living in nineteen-o-trolleybus dreaming of an ethnic, Jewish supremacist Greater Israel, where Arabs are kicked out or confined to Bantustans, while Jews seize the free land and get rich quick. I suppose that is an election winner among Israeli Jews of a certain type. It is astonishing that the whole world is being held hostage by a bunch of knitted kippahs and assorted wacky Jewish ultra-nationalist zealots. Netanyahu is caught with his pants down here, rejecting US mediation, the Quartet's objectives and international law in the same sentence. It is good, now the world can see plainly what it is dealing with - a bunch of nationalist throw-backs from another era, intent on ignoring international law and the major powers for eternity, in order to get their little Zio state. Abbas has played his cards well, Bibi looks pathetic, greedy and weak, as we all know he was the last time he was PM. Some things never change.
...is there a call for the setting up of an additional state in the region. No where in that resolution concepts such as "Palestine", "Palestinians" or a "Palestinian state" are mentioned. Indeed, no where in that resolution is Israel called to vacate all the territories, all the way to the 1949 armistice lines, no where!!! In fact, Israel is called to move its armed forces to "secure and recognized boundaries". But Abbas wants more than this, much more, before even sitting down to talk. He makes the whole process a sham, and sadly, the Obama administration continues to dance to his tune. I wonder, why...??
242 mandates ‘withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict’ i.e. the 1967 war. That means ALL territories beyond the 1948 border aka Green Line. Zionists continually argue around what they fondly believe to be a loophole: 242 does not say all THE territories. This is a fallacious bit of wordplay. First, the equally valid French version does indeed say THE territory. Second, saying 'the territory' is grammatically tautological in English. If we say territories occupied, it is self-evident that it means all the territories occupied. If it didn’t, we’d say ‘except for….’. McHugo's example makes it crystal clear. If the sign in the park says Dogs not Allowed In Park, it would be inconceivable for a dog owner to argue that they had a right to take their dog there, on the ground that it did not say all dogs were barred. Dogs is a generic, as are territories, so the dog owner would be handed a swift fine by the magistrate. It is astonishing the lengths the Zio barrack-room lawyers will go to invent an excuse to steal Palestinian land. However, this one just doesn’t wash at all, it’s a reduction ad absurdum.
Netanyahu has no desire to be deposed or suffer the fate of Rabin. Obama has no testicles as his are in Netanyahu's back pocket. Abbas knows the US has given up on peace and wants out. Abbas knows that without the US squeezing Netanyhu's testicles in stead of sitting on Obama's there will be no peace. So why is everyone continuing the farce? Easy, everyone knows the game is over yet no one wants to take the blame.
Probably not. He can not give up the settlements with losing his coalition so the longer the delay the better for him. Abbas can not give up East Jeruselem. So where is this going?
The matchmaker is ready, the groom is anxious, but the bride is ready to cancel the wedding. Hollywood has produced hundreds of movies like this.
by those in the minority who don't particularly support the union of these entities, who've had this on and off relationship over the decades, and who come from very different backgrounds. But the majority of marriages last and that's the good news, my friend!
How can you have direct talk when #1 natanyahu refuse to freeze illegal settleman #2 Natanyahu refuse to give east jerusalem is Palestinian capital #3 Natanyhau want IDF in palestinian state border!! What we push for a direct talk? We have natanyahu game and I will say the stinch is everywhere.
and support the Middle East peace process throughout the duration of talks, as the developments are especially important for each member of the Quartet. Let's hope President Abbas decides to enter talks with PM Netanyahu as soon as possible.
You bet he will enter direct negotiations. Why? Because the Palestinians have no state, no prospects and no power. When they issue tough sounding proclamations about conditions for talks, the entire world laughs, because everyone knows the truth; their emperors have no clothes. They play to their own audience and nobody else. That is why at the end, they can't compromise. That is why, at the end, there will never be a peace agreement and there will never be a Palestinian state.
forgive me, it needs to be said, I too would prefer not to be in the same room with Bibi.
than a lip service IS a failure of your leadership. This will get you nowhere with the beligerent Israeli Government or your people. You can serve your people better by resigning the office of PM.
I am not sure why all these theatrics by Mr. Abbas? As we say here in the US, once you sleep with dogs you get up with fleas. It appears that Abbas can't get rid of these fleas, even if he wanted to. Good luck Mr. President! You are surly on your way of realizing the Palestinians' dreams for independence!