Obama to host Abbas, Netanyahu at summit Tuesday
White House announcement comes after Israeli, PA officials said N.Y. summit unlikely to take place.
By Barak Ravid and The Associated Press Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu Barack Obama Israel news PalestiniansU.S. President Barack Obama will host a meeting Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to lay the groundwork for renewed peace talks, the White House said Saturday.
The meeting comes at a time when U.S. peacemaking efforts were encountering strong resistance in the region, and after both Israeli and Palestinian officials had said such a summit was highly unlikely to take place.
The three-way meeting will take place immediately after Obama meets separately with each of the two leaders, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Saturday.
George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, said it was another sign of Obama's commitment to comprehensive peace. The meetings will take place in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting.No announcement is expected at the meeting of the three leaders, according to an administration official. But Obama scheduled the meeting to show his personal commitment to making progress, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the discussions.
Nir Hefetz, who heads the public relations desk in the Prime Minister's Office, said in response to the announcement that, "Prime Minister Netanyahu warmly accepts the invitation extended by the U.S. administration for a meeting with the U.S. president, and for a trilateral meeting with the president and with the president of the Palestinian Authority."
A senior Netanyahu aide added: "The meeting will be held without preconditions, as the prime minister had always wanted."
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed Abbas would attend the meeting and said he hopes the meeting will renew talks.
The Palestinian leader held talks with Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, for over a year without achieving an agreement.
On Friday, the possibility of a three-way meeting had been in doubt because Mitchell failed to bridge wide gaps between Israelis and Palestinians.
Obama has set the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks as a major goal of his young presidency, and dispatched Mitchell as a White House envoy to soften the ground on both sides.
Over four days, Mitchell met twice with Abbas and four times with Netanyahu, including twice on Friday before Mitchell left the Middle East.
The key disputes are over Israeli settlement expansion and whether peace talks should begin where they left off under Netanyahu's predecessors.
Israel has balked at a U.S. demand that it freeze settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territory the Palestinians want for a future state. Under a U.S.-sponsored plan from 2003, Israel is required to freeze all such construction.
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U.S. President Barack Obama. |
| Photo by: AP |
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Israel's actions caused the talks to fail by Netanyahu reneging on the Phase One obligations of the Road Map that Israel agreed to in 2003. Israel agreed to a full settlement freeze including Natural growth. Israel also agreed to East Jerusalem being a final status issue. Israel is at fault and the Palestinians have a right to expect Israel to honour its commitments signed.
Peace does not mean usurping the Land of Israel from the Jews. Peace does not mean destruction of Israel. Until peace exists in the heart, mind and soul of the Islamist-Jihadists, they will NOT know peace.
The lunatic fringe, the Bolshevik wing of the Republican Party in the US is the ones warning that it's all a trick and Netanyahu should watch out, that he's being set up. Surely, in Canada, you must hear about the Romanov proliferation of Czars in the US. The same people warning about that are the ones warning that this is a trick, too. And since the Czarist opponents were the Bolsheviks, I figure that it what to call their wing of the party. They are the ones calling it a secret plot to do something bad. They are not specific. BTW, it doesn't matter to me if your rank is reserve or regular Army.
they need to go home to JOrdan
Neither side is likely to budge until demographics force them too. Most Americans have tuned out. Most see both sides as unreliable, two faced, and a waste of their Presidents energy that is needed elsewhere.
Mark of Lewiston, how do you come to a conclusion that Obama conned Bibi to accept a meeting with Obama?? There is no correlation!! As a deplomat of a soverign nation, it is imperative accept an invitation to a so called meeting so as to show the willingness from a respected Prime Minister of Israel. You and your arab cousins are negative and ignorant in thinking negative.
Terrible thing, an open democracy like the USA with those darn checks and balances, where the whole world can invest, cry, shout and lobby and have influence through papers and television networks. Presidents toothless by own Congress and foreign parties are the laughing thirds. Obama as all powerfull Imperator Rex with a Congress in a solely advisory role (he should take tricky Augustus as an example) would be much better. I totally agree with you.
......overall peace agreement first. The sacrifice of the jewish claim to all of israel should only occur as part of an overall peace agreement. In the absence of peace all of israel should be annexed and the remaining colonial arab population dealt with as the blacks dealt with european african colonisers.
Obama and Mitchell are getting a quick course in mid east shouk bargaining. The parties are pretending not even to be willing to discuss the deal, when in fact they are both hot to trot. The real obstacle is not the settlements: israel has set precedents of abandoning Yamit and Gaza, but it is Hamas' sworn goal to obliterate Israel. So, how can Israel negotiate anything until Haniyeh is reeducated? Either he wants to be part of a peaceful Palestine, or continue with his mad threatening rants. I suggest that Fatah forces go into Gaza en masse in a tunnel and capture Haniyeh and reassert their control over the strip thru elections. Haniyeh can sit in Ramle jail in repentance for his gross violation of Islam. I'll be glad to bring him gefilte fish and kreplach for the chagim.
Until that fact is changed, Abbas will get nowhere, and Hamas will hold on to power in Gaza.
Netanyahu will drag this on until the entire WestBank has been filled with extremist settlers. Because Israel is not truly interested in peace, it is a terrorist state and will ultimately be destroyed. Peace in the world will then be easily achieved.
Mr. Erekat, Pres. Obama, Netanyahu and Abbas all know the issues. The people of Israel and the Palestinians know the issues. Those listed are the ones who were elected to do their people's will. It boils down to whether you want peace or not and whether you want a Palestinian State or not? Peace is the only way you will achieve a state. Unlesss you prefer yet more war and terrorism because that's the alternative and you'll end up in the same hell hole you are in now.
Dodi, and the Bibi government is a peace partner. Are you joking? On what planet do you spend most of your time?
The pathetic leaders of both countries leave President Obama no choice but to forge ahead under duress(at least publically). I'd like to be a fly on the wall at those meetings.
What for? Till Gilad Shalit is home safe and sound there is nothing to talk about and why should we pay for a wasted trip?
OK as long as Bibi gives nothing in return no matter what. We gave Gaza, now a terrorist entity and got rockets in return. To me there is no peace, never will be and most of all there never should be while things are as they are and were.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is a man with no principales, doesn't stand for his words. Why is he manipulating with words, it seems it's cheaper to just talk than do anything, this is why Israel has no true peace partner.
"Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed Abbas would attend the meeting and said he hopes the meeting will renew talks." Saeb Erekat used to say there is nothing to talk about before stopping settlements. Now, he is changing his tone! Why is that? Is it becuase Obama and Netanyahu would fire him????
Obama's Middle Eastern Czar has finally tricked Netanyahu by promising a meeting. The Bolsheviks are sure to object. But that secret Romanov, Obama, is determined to have his way.
Do you believe Abbas was making it a condition to Obama for participating in the talks, that he would "bash" Goldstones report...??? :)
He will be humiliated, as he can't negotiate a contract while having no shekels and no assets. Like Abbas he has nothing of value to give. As a mater of fact neither does Bibi, unless he wants to give up his job as PM. A true manager would start laying the ground work for sanctions and take full responsibility for doing so. It would take pressure off Bibi and allow him to make some concessions.
Neither Bibi nor Abbas wants to enter into real negotiations because both would have to make real concessions and lose their internal support, shakey in both cases. Militants among the Palestinians want the disappearance of Israel, not carving up the land and giving up extreme wishful thinking like the return of 4 million Palestinians, refugees and offspring. So, better to have no pie and imagine getting the whole one. Bibi ironically is now doing the work of the Left, advocating a Palestinian state, and will be the one to dismantle settlements, but lose his entire right flank. So better to hold on to a shakey present, than give up power and invite chaos. Obama is just trying to make a major diplomatic breakthru that the US desperately needs to court Moslem nations and every other president failed in. Good luck to all. Tilt. Rethink. Reboot. Start new game. Want amba and charif on your shwarma?
He will be humiliated, as he can't negotiate a contract while having no shekels and no assets. Like Abbas he has nothing of value to give. As a mater of fact neither does Bibi, unless he wants to give up his job as PM. A true manager would start laying the ground work for sanctions and take full responsibility for doing so. It would take pressure off Bibi and allow him to make some concessions. -BDS- Go-bama