US to urge Palestinians to resume peace talks

Despite Israel's rejection of settlement freeze, Washington's top envoy will call for a meeting on the sidelines at the United Nations.

RAMALLAH // George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, is scheduled to hold talks with Palestinian leaders today to push for a resumption of peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis, even as the Israeli government ruled out a total settlement construction freeze. Mr Mitchell is widely expected to ask Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president and head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, to agree to a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, on the sidelines of a meeting of the UN's General Assembly later this month. Reports in the Israeli media also suggest that Palestinians and Israelis have agreed to terms of reference for renewed peace talks. According to a report in Sunday's Haaretz newspaper, an Israeli daily, negotiations would focus solely on the issue of borders, leaving the issues of Jerusalem, refugees and water to a later stage. But Israel's refusal to bow to US pressure and enforce a total settlement construction freeze in occupied territory remains a significant obstacle to any resumption of peace talks. Both Mr Mitchell and Mr Netanyahu conceded that the US and Israel had yet to reach agreement over a freeze after the two met on Sunday. Israel says the remaining difference with Washington is over the length of any settlement construction freeze, which Israel insists must be temporary. Furthermore, Mr Netanyahu yesterday indicated to the Israeli parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee that Washington has accepted a partial settlement construction freeze. Mr Netanyahu told the committee that Mr Mitchell had requested a complete freeze but that Mr Netanyahu had insisted on continuing building in Jerusalem as well as in some settlements in the West Bank, a total of nearly 3,000 units. "The reduction in building will be for a limited time and there is not yet agreement with the US over that period of time," said Mr Netanyahu. It would, however, be extremely problematic for Mr Abbas to accept the resumption of negotiations with Israel on the basis of only a "reduction in building" of settlements. Mr Abbas has consistently rejected negotiating under such conditions. Indeed, yesterday's Palestinian press carried comments by Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, reiterating Palestinian rejection of negotiating while settlement construction continues. And while it is clear that Washington is pushing both parties hard for a resumption of negotiations, it is not clear what Mr Mitchell can bring to the table today that will persuade Mr Abbas to commit to renewed talks. The framework for talks reportedly agreed between the sides does not alone seem sufficient. It is not clear, for instance, how the sides can discuss borders without discussing Jerusalem. Moreover, the US administration has appealed to the Arab world to help Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking by undertaking certain confidence-building measures vis-à-vis Israel. But in Washington on Sunday, Adel al Jubeir, the Saudi ambassador to the US, rejected such an approach. Past experience, said the ambassador in a response to a letter from more than 220 members of the US Congress urging a "dramatic gesture" from Saudi Arabia toward Israel, suggests that an incremental approach to the peace process will fail. "It is our firm view that resolution of this conflict does require outlining the final settlement at the outset," Mr al Jubeir said. Certainly it will be hard to convince Arab countries to engage in any confidence-building measures without a full settlement construction freeze. That was reiterated in Egypt also on Sunday after Mr Netanyahu met Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president. Mr Mubarak emphasised that all settlement activity, including "natural growth", had to end before peace talks could resume. Mr Mitchell is thus set for a considerable test of his diplomatic skills today in Ramallah if he is to convince Mr Abbas not just to meet Mr Netanyahu in New York later this month, but to resume serious negotiations over a lasting settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And should negotiations, in spite of the obstacles, restart, the real diplomacy will need to begin. After 18 years of fruitless talks both ordinary Palestinians as well as the Palestinian leadership are highly suspicious of another dead-end process. "I don't think we can expect, after 18 years of negotiations, another 18 years of negotiations," said George Giacaman, a Palestinian analyst. "This is the last chance for the two-state solution. I think everyone understands that there are no additional 10 or 15 years. This is it." [e-mail]