US MIDDLE East envoy George Mitchell meets Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem today in another attempt to reach a compromise on a package deal enabling the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, frozen since the war in Gaza last December.
In comments yesterday, both men indicated that it was still not a done deal, putting in doubt Washington’s plans for a symbolic tripartite meeting at the UN General Assembly session later this month involving President Barack Obama, Mr Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
“While we have not yet reached agreement on any outstanding issues, we are working hard to do so, and indeed the purpose of my visit here this week is to attempt to do so,” Mr Mitchell said, ahead of talks with Israeli president Shimon Peres.
Mr Netanyahu told ministers at Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting that some progress had been made in the diplomatic contacts but gaps remained.
“There is still much to be done,” the prime minister said before flying to Cairo for talks with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. “I hope we can bridge the gaps and reignite the peace process. We are not the ones mounting difficulties.”
The Palestinian leadership still maintains that an Israeli settlement freeze is a precondition for a resumption of peace talks.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the message of Mr Abbas, when he meets Mr Mitchell tomorrow, will be the same as the last time he met him. “There will be no compromise in relation to settlements. Israel must halt all settlement activities including natural growth,” Mr Erekat said.
It was Israel’s insistence on the right to “natural growth” that prompted the decision earlier this month to approve permits for another 455 homes in West Bank settlements. Mr Netanyahu has also made it clear that building of some 2,500 units already under way will continue, and east Jerusalem will not be part of any building freeze.
Mr Mitchell’s task will be to persuade the Palestinians to accept these Israeli red lines in return for a declaration by Mr Netanyahu of a moratorium on settlement building.
The duration of such a freeze is one of the outstanding parameters still being negotiated. Washington was pushing for one year; Israeli negotiators wanted a freeze limited to six months.
Another piece in the puzzle is Israel’s insistence on measures by Arab states to normalise relations with Israel, to coincide with the renewal of the bilateral talks with the Palestinians.
Both Qatar and Oman have indicated a willingness to restore low-level ties broken off in the past in protest at Israeli actions. But this falls short of Israeli expectations.
Jerusalem was hoping for a dramatic change in the traditional Arab stance that relations can only improve after the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli president Shimon Peres, who holds a largely ceremonial position, expressed the hope that peace talks could be resumed before the end of the month.
Mr Netanyahu also made it clear yesterday that Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for Friday’s firing of three Katyusha rockets into northern Israel.
“I have said before that we will not accept attacks on Israel or terror directed against its citizens,” he said.
“It is clear that the rockets were fired from an area located south of the Litani River in violation of UN Resolution 1701.”
Resolution 1701 ended the war between Israel and Hizbullah in the summer of 2006.