Al Jazeera (Qatar) : "US envoy meets Palestinian leader"

US envoy meets Palestinian leader

Mitchell, left, on a fourth visit to the region,
met Abbas in Ramallah [Reuters]

George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, has met Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, in a bid to push for the urgent resumption of peace talks with Israel.

Mitchell arrived in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, after telling Israeli leaders that they must meet their commitments under the so-called "road map", which demands a halt to settlement expansion.

Before the meeting, an Abbas aide told Associated Press Television News that the Palestinians would ask the US to impose a timetable for negotiations and "expedite the creation of a Palestinian state".

Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, said: "The Palestinians and Israelis are feeling the pressure that they must do their part to resume talks and reach a solution.

"These talks will not be open-ended, these will be talks aimed at establishing  an independent Palestinian state, and sources say that the US president [Barack Obama] is determined to see that state come to reality within this term in office."

Palestinian state 

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, is yet to commit to working towards an independent Palestinian state.

Netanyahu has, so far, said he is only ready to hold talks with Abbas on economic, security and political issues.

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Palestinians have rejected his proposed shift of focus away from territorial issues.

However, there is widespread speculation in Israel that Netanyahu could back moves to create a separate Palestinian state when he outlines his policy on relations with the Palestinians in a speech on Sunday.

Ehud Barak, the defence minister in Netanyahu's coalition government, on Wednesday urged the prime minister to accept the principle of a Palestinian state.
  
"The current government was formed with the commitment to respect the deals reached by preceding governments," the head of the centre-left Labor party told public radio.
  
"The roadmap which clearly states that the conflict must be resolved on the principle of two states for two peoples."

US-Israel tensions

Netanyahu's refusal to endorse a Palestinian statehood and his defiance to US calls for an end to all settlement expansion in the West Bank and east Jerusalem have created a rift with Washington.

But Mitchell sought to ease the tensions as he met Netanyahu on Tuesday.

"We are two allies, two friends, and our commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable," he said.

"And I want you to know we come here to talk not as adversaries in disagreement but as friends in discussion.

"We recognise that the issues are complex and many. But we hope that we're going to work our way through them to achieve the objective that we share with you, and that is peace, security and prosperity throughout the region."

On his fourth visit to the region, Mitchell is also expected to hold meetings in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, on Thursday and Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Friday and Saturday.

Source:

Al Jazeera and agencies

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/200961094337232487.html