US Mideast envoy shuttles through region

Sep 30, 2010, 21:16 GMT

Ramallah - US Mideast envoy George Mitchell will return to Ramallah Friday for a second round of talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, after an additional round Thursday, according to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Mitchell is also expected to hold a second round of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in an effort to salvage the month-old direct peace talks between the two sides.

The negotiations, which started in Washington earlier this month, faced a serious setback over the weekend when Netanyahu refused to extend a 10-month old moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

Settlements are a major source of division between the sides, with some Israelis claiming a religious right to settle the Palestinian territories, a move Palestinians see as a land grab.

The Palestinians said they cannot continue negotiations if the freeze is not extended, but said they would give their final answer after a meeting of an Arab League committee set for October 6. Mitchell held 'serious and in-depth' talks with Abbas and his negotiating team in Ramallah on Thursday, said Erekat, in an effort to break the deadlock in the negotiations.

The US envoy, who held two hours of talks with Abbas, had also met Netanyahu the day before and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday.

Mitchell's shuttle between Jerusalem and Ramallah indicates a possible breakthrough in the deadlock as he searches for common ground between Israel and the Palestinians.

'We are determined to continue, and we are continuing our efforts to find common ground between the parties to enable the direct negotiations to continue in a manner that we hope will lead to an agreement,' Mitchell said in a statement to reporters after the meeting.

The Palestinians had suggested a three-month extension of the moratorium to give time for the negotiations to make headway. The US and European Union backed the Palestinian proposal, which Netanyahu rejected, claiming his government would collapse if he extended the freeze.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who arrived in the region on Thursday to back the US efforts, is also expected to meet separately with Abbas and Netanyahu in the next two days. She had already called on Netanyahu to extend the freeze to prevent collapse of the negotiations.

'President Obama's vision of comprehensive peace in the Middle East remains our primary goal in the regions,' said Mitchell. 'That means Israel and Palestinians reaching agreement on the two-state solution with security and prosperity for both people.'

However, Mitchell said the road ahead will not be easy.

'We recognized and said at the outset that there would be difficulties, there would be ups and downs and there will be many obstacles to the peace process,' he said.

Trying to ease the situation, Obama has reportedly offered security assurances to Israel hoping Netanyahu will in return grant an extension on the West Bank settlement moratorium. The US State Department flatly denied that Obama offered the assurances in a letter to Netanyahu.

'There was no letter to the prime minister,' spokesman PJ Crowley said.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank, reported on its website that Obama sent Netanyahu a letter asking for a two-month extension of the settlement freeze that expired Sunday, hoping to keep the fragile peace talks with the Palestinians progressing.

In return, Obama pledged to not again call on Israel to extend the freeze beyond the 60 days he is requesting, and to arrange for the future sale of advanced missile systems and fighter aircraft, namely the F-35, the think tank reported, citing senior US officials.

Further, Obama promised to veto any Palestinian or Arab resolution before the UN Security Council for a one-year period, and to accept Israel's security needs without trying to redefine them, including the enforcement of a complete ban on the smuggling of rockets and mortars to the hands of Palestinian militants.