US MIDDLE East peace envoy George Mitchell began another regional trip yesterday, stressing that the Obama administration is seeking a comprehensive peace between Israel and all her Arab neighbours.
After talks in Damascus with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Mr Mitchell acknowledged the key role of Syria in achieving such a goal, highlighting the importance of improving strained US-Syrian bilateral ties.
“I told President Assad that President Obama is determined to facilitate a truly comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace,” he said. “That peace means between Palestinians and Israelis, between Syria and Israel, and between Lebanon and Israel.”
The US envoy called for full normalisation between the entire Arab world and Israel, as outlined in the Arab peace initiative, which calls on Israel to first withdraw from all occupied Arab territory.
Peace negotiations between Israel and Syria, via Turkish mediation, broke off at the end of last year. Syrian leaders have indicated a willingness to restart the talks at the point they were broken off, and Turkish leaders say they are ready to resume mediation efforts.
Israel is more hesitant. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was elected to power on a platform of Israel retaining sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which was captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli war.
Israel insists that talks must resume “without preconditions”, rejecting the land-for-peace formula adopted by the previous government.
After his talks in Syria, Mr Mitchell arrived in Israel, where he dismissed differences of opinion between Washington and Jerusalem over West Bank Jewish settlement construction as “discussions among friends”, and “not disputes among adversaries”.
Mr Netanyahu told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting that bilateral US-Israel ties remained steadfast. “Naturally, even within the fabric of friendly relations between allies, there are points over which there is not full agreement,” he said. “We are trying to arrive at an agreement so that we can promote our objectives: peace, security and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
Both Israeli and US officials have downplayed prospects of a breakthrough on the settlement question this week. Palestinians have insisted that peace talks with Israel can resume only after a halt to all Jewish building in the West Bank and Palestinian neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem.
To coincide with the Mitchell visit, militant settlers yesterday vowed to establish 11 new outposts across the West Bank over a two-day period.
Mr Mitchell is only the first of four senior US officials scheduled to visit Israel this week.
Today, defence secretary Robert Gates will make a brief stopover for talks with Israeli leaders which are expected to focus on the Iranian nuclear programme. On Wednesday, US national security adviser Jim Jones and the administration’s new Middle East point man Dennis Ross are due in Jerusalem.
Yesterday, several dozen Israeli right-wing activists, including a member of the Knesset parliament, marched in the southern Israeli Bedouin city of Rahat, demonstrating against “illegal Arab construction”. A massive police presence prevented clashes.