Mitchell pushes for direct Middle East peace talks

US ENVOY George Mitchell held talks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday in a push to get Israel and the Palestinians to move to direct negotiations for the first time in 18 months.

The Middle East envoy was set to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in his West Bank base of Ramallah today.

Mr Mitchell has been shuttling between Washington, Jerusalem and Ramallah for months in a bid to get the two sides to sit down face to face.

The Palestinians reluctantly agreed to hold indirect talks in May, but Mr Abbas has said he will not move to direct negotiations until there is progress on the issues of borders and security.

The Palestinians suspended direct talks in December 2008 after Israel launched a devastating 22-day offensive against the Gaza Strip. Mr Abbas said there must be progress on the two issues on the agenda of the proximity talks: security for the “two-state solution” and an Israeli commitment to negotiate a border between Israel and the future Palestinian state based on the June 4th, 1967, line.

He also said Israel must halt settlement expansion and agree to begin direct negotiations where they were broken off in December 2008.

Mr Abbas is under counter-pressure from his political base, the Fatah movement.

In a statement, Fatah said Israel’s failure to negotiate seriously since indirect talks began in May undermined confidence in the peace process. Israel’s refusal to submit its positions on security and borders could, Fatah stated, “become entrenched as ‘givens and facts’ if there is a transition to direct talks. This is something the Palestinian leadership has not and will not accept.” Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Malki warned that direct talks would fail if an “international” third party was not involved.

He observed there was “no parity” between “occupier and occupied” and said “international” intervention was essential to keep the two sides moving towards a solution.

The Palestinians have the backing of Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa, who dismissed the possibility of direct engagement. “I am very pessimistic over the future of the [peace] process,” he said.

League members are to meet on July 29th to decide whether to authorise direct talks.

Washington had apparently hoped Cairo would be supportive, but Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak postponed a meeting with Mr Netanyahu last Tuesday. He is scheduled to receive the Israeli leader tomorrow. – (Additional reporting AP)