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Latest update: 16/03/2010
- diplomacy - George Mitchell - Israeli-Palestinian conflict
US Mideast envoy delays Israel visit amid settlement dispute
US Mideast envoy George Mitchell (photo) delayed a visit to Israel amid a diplomatic row between the allies over new settlements in east Jerusalem. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Tuesday for "full commitment" to peace talks from all sides.
By News Wires (text)
AFP - The United States said Tuesday that US envoy George Mitchell will not meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials before the Middle East quartet meets in Moscow on Thursday.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters that Mitchell had delayed meetings originally set for Monday to give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu time to respond to US concerns about settlements.
But he said "logistics" now barred the US envoy from traveling to Jerusalem before the talks in Moscow, sidestepping the issue of whether Mitchell refused to go to the Middle East until Netanyahu gave his response to Washington.
He nonetheless said he anticipated a conversation "very soon" between Netanyahu and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who last week asked the Israeli leader for a response on US concerns about Israeli settlement plans.
A US official told reporters on the condition of anonymity that the conversation could come Wednesday.
Mitchell "will not have meetings with the parties prior to Moscow," Crowley told reporters.
He cited the problem of "logistics" and the "tyranny of the schedule" which would deny Mitchell time for "meaningful talks" before the quartet -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- meets in Moscow.
The quartet launched the so-called road map for Middle East peace in 2003, which calls for a Palestinian state living alongside a secure Israel.
When asked why it was wrong to conclude that Mitchell is avoiding travel to the region until Israel gives its response, Crowley replied: "At this point it is logistics. Were it not for the Moscow meeting ... we might be able to tell you when the meetings would take place."
The postponement comes amid a growing diplomatic crisis that erupted last week when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in annexed Arab east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
It also coincides with an eruption of unrest across east Jerusalem over Israel's settlement plans and the reopening of a 17th century synagogue near the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
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Comments (3)
truth
Its -- "HOWDY DOODY TIME" ---
Incompetents Abroad
George Mitchell was a sorry, incompetent political hack when he was on Capitol Hill and he remains one to this day. No wonder Obama picked him to do the administration's dirty work in the Middle East. Mitchell proved that he would stab any ally in the back when it suited his proposes as a senator and now he's backstabbing Israel at the behest of his new "boss" Obama. Disgusting!
THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT
Even the babies in cradles have heard all these excuses why there can not be peace in the middle east between Israel and the Arab world. ENOUGH is ENOUGH. The entire world is threatened with terrorism because of the rift between Israel and its neighbors, and because America is a staunch ally of Israel, Americans are the ones who are targeted all the time and it is America and Americans whose country is #1 on the terrorists lists to be harmed. ENOUGH already. I hope the Obama administration does not back down this time in resolving these issues that the Jews and the Arabs have harbored for decades (animosity it is called). The trillions of dollars America must dish out to protect Israel and Arab countries, can be used here at home to better the lives of Americans who are now struggling to pay their taxes. Americans are afraid to travel and show their passports because they will be targeted. ENOUGH is ENOUGH. We are tired hearing this same story, Israel and the Arab world must learn to behave like CIVILIZED people, if there is a dispute, they must learn to solve it like civilized people. We are in the 21st century and ENOUGH is ENOUGH. America has to put its foot down. Whichever country that refuses to make peace that threatens the whole world with the threat of terror being greater each day of our lives simply because of the millions of years of rift between Israel and the Arab world aid to such a country should be CUTOFF. Hope America does not back down this time around. ENOUGH ALREADY. If Israel refuses to listen to America – the world only superpower – to sit down to the table and make peace, then the US must CUTOFF the BILLIONS of our taxpayer dollars it gives away to Israel every year as AID, which Israel uses to acquire more arms and neuclar weapons
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