US envoy Mitchell brought nothing new to region, Palestinians say

Jan 26, 2010, 9:32 GMT

Ramallah - US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell did not deliver 'anything new' in his meetings in the region last week aimed at bringing Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table, senior Palestinian officials said Tuesday.

Nabil Shaath, an advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement that the US has exerted pressure on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to resume negotiations with Israel without a halt to settlement construction.

Shaath also accused Washington and Mitchell of pressuring Abbas to resume peace talks without meeting any of the Palestinian demands for resumption of negotiations.

Israel-Palestinian peace talks were suspended in late 2008 as Israel began an election campaign.

The talks have not been resumed since Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu took office at the end of March 2009, and Abbas says they will not restart unless and until Israel suspends all settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

A 10-month partial freeze announced by Netanyahu in November, which did not include East Jerusalem, was rejected in Ramallah as insufficient.

Mitchell, who wrapped up his most recent trip to Israel and the Palestinian areas on Sunday, has made frequent visits to the region, shuttling between the sides in a so-far unsuccessful attempt to bridge the gaps between them.

'US pressure on the PA not to waste what they consider is an opportunity will not force us to return to negotiations with Israel as long as settlements continue in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem,' Shaath said.

'We believe that a return to the negotiating table will be useless and will serve as a cover to Israeli settlements,' said Shaath, a former PA foreign minister.

Another senior Palestinian official denied press reports that Mitchell carried with him a new initiative to revive stalled peace talks.

Yaser Abed Rabbo, also a close advisor to Abbas, dismissed the reports as 'rumours' in an interview with Voice of Palestine radio.

'There are many reports and rumours,' he said, adding that 'I have not heard of any such American proposal.'

He said there was nothing new in the discussions held so far, explaining that there will not be any negotiations before making these thoughts clear.

Nimr Hammad, another advisor to Abbas, had told Palestinian media that Mitchell had proposed confidence building measures including expanding the West Bank area under full PA control, removing Israeli checkpoints and release of prisoners as well as holding talks at the ministerial level in order to kick-start summit meetings between the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships.

Abbas told Mitchell that these ideas were good but that they should not be a condition to resume negotiations, stressing total halt to settlement activities, including in East Jerusalem, before returning to the negotiating table with Israel, Hammad said.