U.S. Launches Preparation Meetings for Peace Talks
The United States launched meetings in preparation for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met Tuesday in Washington with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. She was scheduled to meet in the evening with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers.
The leaders were set to meet Wednesday with President Obama and launch the talks the next day under Clinton’s auspices. That meeting is set to last three hours.
P.J. Crowley, Clinton’s spokesman, said the talks would focus both on logistical and substantive issues. U.S. officials have said intensive meetings are still under way, a signal that the Israeli and Palestinian sides have yet to agree on the parameters for the talks.
“We want to see not just a successful process going forward but an understanding that we will be going forward,” Crowley said.
The Palestinians want to get to final status issues, including borders, Jerusalem and refugees, right away. The Israelis want to discuss security arrangements first.
Additionally, the Palestinians are threatening to withdraw unless Netanyahu extends a 10-month partial moratorium on building in the settlements that expires Sept. 26. Netanyahu is under pressure from within his government to suspend the freeze.
On Sunday night, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak reportedly met secretly with Abbas in Amman, Israeli media reported, hours after meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah at his palace. Barak reportedly returned to Israel to brief Netanyahu between the meetings.
Barak and Abbas reportedly discussed an Israeli easing of security measures in the West Bank, and Barak reiterated Israel’s commitment to the success of the talks.
Netanyahu left Israel Tuesday morning for Washington. After meeting Wednesday with Obama, he was to attend a dinner with Obama, Abbas, Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Quartet envoy Tony Blair. Netanyahu is scheduled to meet separately with each attendee.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
