No visible sign of progress after second peace round (News Feature)

By Nehal El-Sherif Sep 14, 2010, 21:37 GMT

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - When Washington's Middle East envoy showed up to give a press conference after the first hour and 40 minutes of Tuesday's direct peace talks, his face betrayed that there was no positive news.

George Mitchell's countenance mirrored the expressions of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the day during his bilateral meeting with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak.

'Today the parties have begun a serious discussion on core issues,' Mitchell said in a very brief statement, adding to a doubtful atmosphere that spread after Mubarak's three bilateral meetings.

Both parties 'continue to agree that the negotiations, whose goal is to resolve all issues, can be completed in one year,' Mitchell said, but refused to give any details saying they 'must be kept confidential and treated with sensitivity.'

Israeli-Palestinian direct peace talks, relaunched earlier this month in Washington, entered their second round Tuesday in the Egyptian Red Sea town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Both parties have pledged to reach a peace agreement within a year as they begin the first direct talks in nearly two years.

In front of cameras, Abbas, Mitchell, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were laughing and shaking hands.

The smiles, however, did not cover up for the fact that the meeting started around an hour late.

Rumours that the delay was due to Abbas' rejection of starting talks as the Israelis refuse to extend the settlement freeze were later denied by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit.

Aboul-Gheit said that the talks were delayed because the bilateral meeting between Clinton and Netanyahu 'was longer than expected.'

The 'too long' meeting came as the United States and Egypt expressed their belief that an extension of the moratorium on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, which is set to end this month, 'makes sense.'

Israeli officials have indicated the freeze will not be extended, while Palestinians have said it is a crucial issue that could lead to a breakdown of the talks.

Little was expected from the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh and hopes were very low that anything substantive would come out. Yet, the September 26 deadline made many take some hope.

'It is too early to say that there is a breakthrough after the second round of talks,' Aboul-Gheit told reporters.

Since the proximity talks started earlier this year, Abbas faced internal criticism over entering into talks with a hardline Israeli government, without having first meeting his precondition of a full freeze of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Thus, the direct talks also come as a challenge after Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has championed a plan to build national Palestinian institutions so as to create a de facto state over a period of two years, which comes to a close in August 2011.

Other Palestinian officials said that a one-state solution is not on the table, and the United States announced on Tuesday that the parties' common goal 'remains two states for two peoples.'

Yet, the question rises again ahead of another planned meeting scheduled in Jerusalem on Wednesday that is accompanied with questions over the US mediation, which until now could not convince Israel of extending the settlement constructions freeze.

An Israeli official said on the sidelines of the talks on Tuesday that the US support is important and that his country weighs this.

'But this is an Israeli decision, and these are negotiations not dictations,' he added.