Israel and Mitchell-Netanyahu: No Agreement Yet "Good"

Israel-Palestine: After Mitchell Meeting, Netanyahu Presses His Advantage
Israel-Palestine: Fayyad Puts Invitation to Israel within a “Palestinian State”

Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis

The four-hour meeting between President Obama's envoy George Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ended. Predictably, there has been no agreement on the settlement issue. However, the joint statement put out by both sides characterized the meeting as “good” and added: “Both sides [Israelis and Palestinians] need to take practical steps towards furthering the peace."

After Monday’s meeting between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Netanyahu, in which the latter said the settlement issue could be resolved through negotiations but the Palestinian refuse to recognise Israel as a Jewish state is a major obstacle, today’s “good” meeting is a more hopeful sign. It was agreed that representatives from Netanyahu’s office will go to the U.S. for further discussions with Mitchell’s staff.

The Cable blog adds:

Several Washington Middle East hands believe the parties are close to an agreement on resuming Middle East peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel and Syria, and on resuming normal relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors in the fall. The Obama administration is expected to announce its peace plan parameters and a rough timeline for proceeding around the time of the United Nations General Assembly opening session in New York later next month.

Netanyahu is now on his way to Germany, with the situation of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, held in Gaza, and the Iranian issue likely to be high on the agenda of talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel.