JERUSALEM: US envoy George Mitchell said Sunday he hoped to wrap up an agreement over the next few days in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on a settlement freeze and a revival of peace negotiations.
“While we have not yet reached agreement on many outstanding issues, we are working hard to do so, and indeed the purpose of my visits here this week is to attempt to do so,” Mitchell said with Israeli President Shimon Peres at his side.
Mitchell, who arrived in Israel on Saturday, has been trying to prepare a package under which Israel would freeze settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and Arab states would take initial steps toward recognizing Israel.
Washington hopes both moves would lead to the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks suspended since December.
Mitchell meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and holds talks the next day with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has said he would not restart peace negotiations unless Israel commits to a settlement freeze.
“There is still work to be done,” Netanyahu told reporters before flying to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “Progress has been made on some issues and there are certain things in which we have yet to make progress.”
Netanyahu said he hoped he and Mitchell would be able to “narrow the gaps and perhaps to bridge them” in order to move forward in what he termed the “diplomatic process.” During the meeting with Netanyahu, Mubarak called on Israel to stop all settlement activities and urged the resumption of talks with Palestinians, state news agency MENA reported.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said the leaders “discussed the challenges facing the region and the need for all sides — Israel, the Palestinians, Arab states and the international community — to contribute their part to advancing the peace process.”
Analysts were skeptical that the meeting, part of efforts to revive stalled peace talks, would have much impact.
“If you want to move to a real peace process, the US administration has to lay out a vision for the final status and then force the parties to react to it,” said Ezzedin Choukri-Fishere, professor of international relations at the American University in Cairo.
While Israeli officials have held out the prospect of a moratorium in new construction in settlements, Netanyahu has said the building of some 2,500 homes for Israelis in the West Bank would continue and that the city of Jerusalem would not be included in any settlement deal.
The United States hopes an agreement on the settlement issue would pave the way for a meeting involving Netanyahu, Abbas and US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly around Sept. 23.
But Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Abbas would tell Mitchell there would be no compromise. “Israel must halt all settlement activities including natural growth,” Erekat said.
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