Little hope of peace as talks begin in US
Published: Sep 2, 2010 00:19 Updated: Sep 2, 2010 00:39
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama vowed on Wednesday that a deadly Hamas attack in the West Bank “is not going to stop us” in the quest for Middle East peace as he opened a Washington summit to relaunch face-to-face Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
“The message should go out to Hamas and everybody else who is taking credit for these heinous crimes that this is not going to stop us from not only ensuring a secure Israel but also securing a longer lasting peace in which people throughout the region can take a different course,” Obama told reporters.
Obama spoke after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he launched a series of one-on-one sessions with Middle East leaders attending the US-led peace summit that will culminate on Thursday with the first direct Israeli-Palestinian talks in 20 months.
Both leaders said their opening talks on Wednesday morning, part of a series of separate discussions that also were to include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, were productive.
Earlier, talking to reporters on his plane heading for Washington, Abbas called for decisive American involvement in the talks. He said that if the two sides reach a deadlock, the Obama administration should present “proposals to bridge the gap between the two positions.”
One major immediate challenge in the talks will be the Palestinians’ demand that Israel extend a 10-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank. The freeze expires on Sept. 26.
A top Palestinian official said Wednesday any resumption of Israeli settlement construction would spell the end of the peace talks. “The settlements must be halted and continuing them will signal the end of the peace process,” Palestinian spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told journalists. He was speaking after Netanyahu said there was no change in Israel’s position on ending the 10-month freeze on settlement construction.
Abu Redeina told reporters before the Palestinian leader went to the White House that negotiations with the Israelis will fail almost as soon as they begin unless Israel extends a moratorium on construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
An aide to Netanyahu said Wednesday Jerusalem should remain the “undivided capital of Israel,” clarifying Israel’s position after published comments from Defense Minister Ehud Barak suggested division was a possibility.
“The position of the prime minister is that Jerusalem is one of the core issues that are on the table at the talks,” the aide said. “Our position is that Jerusalem will remain the undivided capital of Israel.”
In an interview published earlier Wednesday, Barak suggested parts of Jerusalem could be handed over to the Palestinians. West Jerusalem and 12 Jewish “neighborhoods” — settlements in Arab east Jerusalem — would remain in Israel’s hands.
“The Arab neighborhoods in which close to a quarter million Palestinians live will be theirs,” he told the Haaretz newspaper.

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