Despite U.S. pressure, still no breakthrough on trilateral summit

The United States is applying heavy pressure on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to bring about a trilateral summit next week with U.S. President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York.

At this point, however, there has been no breakthrough. Haaretz has learned that U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden called Prime Minister Netanyahu a week ago on the matter, asking that the prime minister soften his position and agree to a yearlong construction freeze in West Bank settlements so Abbas would agree to attend the summit meeting.

The talks U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell held this week with Netanyahu ended in failure. At the conclusion of their meetings, however, Mitchell and Netanyahu agreed to meet again tomorrow in a last attempt to arrive at a formula that would permit the summit to take place.

Mitchell went to Jordan Wednesday, to ask King Abdullah to pressure Abbas to attend the summit. According to senior officials in Jerusalem, the disagreements between Israel and the U.S. are still substantial and center around several issues:

1. The Americans continue to demand that Israel freeze construction in the settlements for a year, while Netanyahu has only agreed to six months. The American demand for a yearlong freeze follows Palestinian refusal to attend a summit without such a freeze.

2. Israel opposes any future statement by President Obama that the border between Israel and the Palestinian state will be based upon the 1967 borders, with adjustments. Netanyahu is demanding an American commitment to defensible borders for Israel.

3. Netanyahu is also demanding that the framework for negotiations be consistent with the content of his speech at Bar-Ilan University in June, in which he spoke of a demilitarized Palestinian state; a Palestinian declaration acknowledging Israel as the state of the Jewish nation; and an understanding that any agreement would bring an end to claims and the end of the conflict.

4. Israel is concerned that a future public statement by Obama on the Middle East could erode the provisions of a letter from President George W. Bush in which Bush stated that large settlement blocs would remain part of Israel in any final-status agreement, and that Palestinian refugees would not return to Israel.

5. Israel objects to setting a two-year time frame for a final-status agreement and in particular any provision that at the end of the two years a Palestinian state would be established. Netanyahu believes this would predetermine the results of the talks.