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Israel rejects Palestinian formula for talks
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel has rejected a Palestinian proposal to begin face-to-face peace talks on the basis of a statement by major powers that would set their terms of reference, Israeli newspaper reports said on Thursday.Reports in the left-wing dailies Haaretz and Maariv said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday that he wants direct talks to start immediately but will not accept any preconditions. Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev had no direct comment on the reports, which said Mitchell's mission had "failed". "The government of Israel has been calling for the immediate start of direct peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians for more than a year now," Regev told Reuters. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to engage in direct talks before Netanyahu agrees to a clear agenda. Without an agenda, Palestinians say, Netanyahu may propose terms for a peace treaty that are completely unacceptable, and leave Abbas looking like a rejectionist when he turns them down. This week ahead of Mitchell's latest shuttle visit Abbas indicated that he could go for face-to-face negotiations, if talks were based on a March 19 statement by the "Quartet" of powers involved in Middle East diplomacy -- the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations. This was the proposal Mitchell took to Netanyahu, the newspaper reports said, although it is not clear whether Israel was asked to formally sign up to it or merely acknowledge it. The Quartet statement says Israel should halt settlement building in the West Bank and reach a full peace agreement with the Palestinians within 24 months, creating a state on the basis of the borders that existed before the 1967 Middle East war. U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley on Wednesday said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had discussed Abbas's proposal with U.N. 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. The Palestinian source said he believed the Quartet would still issue its statement by Monday or Tuesday, giving Abbas the international backing he seeks and putting the ball back in Netanyahu's court. Posted by: Fred 2010-08-13 |
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