Mitchell to meet Abbas after pressing Israel on
settlements
Date: 10 / 06 / 2009 Time: 09:57
Bethlehem –
Ma’an/Agencies –
US President Barack Obama’s envoy to the Middle East will meet
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, a day after he told
Israeli officials that Washington will not back away from demands for a
settlement freeze.
Envoy George Mitchell reiterated the Obama
administration’s insistence on a halt to construction in all Israeli
settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem, a step
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to take.
Mitchell said that opposition to settlements has been US policy since
Israel seized the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza more
than 40 years ago. In spite of this he reassured Israel that the US
would remain its close ally.
"We come here to talk not as
adversaries and in disagreement, but as friends in discussion," Mitchell
said before meeting Netanyahu on Tuesday evening.
Mitchell will
hold talks with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the
headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, before heading to Lebanon and
Syria.
The Lebanon-Syria leg of Mitchell's visit was announced on
Tuesday as part of what a State Department spokesperson called a trip
seeking "broad-based, comprehensive peace dealing with all the regional
players."
"This is a very high priority," spokesman Ian Kelly
said.
Mitchell: "committed to Israel's security"
Wednesday June 10, 2009 12:24 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies
In all of his meetings with Israeli officials, US envoy George
Mitchell, confirmed the American commitment to Israel's security while
at the same time stated that the United States still believes that
Israel should stop the construction and expansion of settlement.
Mitchell also said that the Unites States position on settlements
never changed since 40 years; which is the same period in which
settlement were built and expanded on Palestinian lands under direct and
indirect US support
As for the Gaza Strip, Mitchell said that
crossings to should opened under direct cooperation with the government
of Salam Fayyad in the West Bank.
He also said that the US wants
to make sure that if construction materials are allowed into Gaza, they
won’t be used by Hamas for manufacturing combat materials.
Meanwhile, Israeli media sources reported that the Mitchell's statements
were moderate regardless of the "tension between Israel and the US on
settlements", and that Mitchell confirmed in every meeting that the
United States is committed to Israel's security.
During his
meeting with Mitchell, Israeli occupation government prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, stated that Israel want to achieve peace in the
region but did not express willingness to halt the construction and
expansion of settlements.
Mitchell said that “the United States
and Israel will always be friends and close allies”.
The US envoy
did not mention urge Israel to be committed to UN and Security Council
resolutions regarding a full withdrawal from the Arab and Palestinian
territories captured in 1967, including East Jerusalem.
He also
did not ask Israel to adhere to abide by the International Law and the
Fourth Geneva Convention especially since settlements violate the
international law and the basic principles of human rights.
The
Convention prevents the transfer of civilian populations onto land
acquired by military takeover.
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