ISRAELI OFFICIALS have expressed optimism that an announcement on the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians will be made during the three-day visit to the region of US envoy George Mitchell, which began yesterday.
Negotiations were put on hold during the Gaza war 16 months ago, and Mr Mitchell has made repeated trips to the region in an effort to get the sides to agree to resume talks aimed at establishing an independent Palestinian state.
The US envoy, who last night met Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah after talks earlier in the day with Israeli leaders, is scheduled to meet Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu again tomorrow.
“I look forward to working with the Obama administration to move peace forward,” Mr Netanyahu told Mr Mitchell at the start of yesterday’s Jerusalem meeting. “We are serious about it, we know you are serious about it and we hope the Palestinians respond.”
President Shimon Peres told Mr Mitchell no one benefited from the peace process stalemate and that it was time to move forward.
“If there are elements on the other side doubting our support for the two-state solution, I suggest that they take a look at the peace treaties we have already signed with Egypt and Jordan,” Mr Peres said.
Israel, under intense pressure from Washington, is expected to agree to a number of goodwill gestures ahead of the resumption of peace talks. Officials were reluctant to reveal details of the measures ahead of an announcement of the resumption of talks, but, according to media reports, Israel will release Palestinian prisoners, remove some West Bank roadblocks and hand control of additional West Bank areas to Palestinian Authority security forces.
The Palestinian leadership, angered by ongoing Israeli construction in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem, refused to resume direct talks.
The expected formula will be “proximity” talks, with Mr Mitchell holding separate discussions with Israeli negotiators in Jerusalem and a Palestinian team in Ramallah, north of the Israeli capital.
An agreement on proximity talks was expected last month during the visit of US vice-president Joe Biden, but an announcement by Israel of construction of 1,600 new homes in an ultra-orthodox Jewish neighbourhood in east Jerusalem scuttled the breakthrough.
Despite US pressure, Mr Netanyahu, who heads a largely right-wing religious coalition, told Israel’s Channel 2 television in an interview on Thursday that construction in east Jerusalem, viewed by Palestinians as the future capital of their state, would continue.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat criticised Mr Netanyahu’s comments. “We should give the proximity talks the chance they deserve, but at the same time, it is evident after Mr Netanyahu’s statements last night that this Israeli government is determined to continue the course of settlements, dictation and confrontation and not peace and reconciliation,” he said.