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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Clinton prods Netanyahu on Mideast peace talks | |
| 2010-08-14 | |
[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about issues blocking direct peace talks with the Palestinians as the Obama administration boosted pressure for talks to begin, the State Department said on Friday.
"We continued to discuss with the parties the basis for the launch of direct negotiations," he said. Clinton's calls followed a trip to the region by U.S. Mideast negotiator George Mitchell this week in which he sought to overcome final barriers to direct negotiations, which U.S. President Barack Obama hopes to see launched in coming weeks. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas indicated on Monday he could go to direct talks, provided they were based on a Mar. 19 statement by the "Quartet" of Mideast peace mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. But Israeli newspapers said Netanyahu told Mitchell on Wednesday he wanted talks to start immediately without any such "precondition" -- dimming hopes for an imminent breakthrough. "We believe they are committed. It is just a matter of working through a few details. They are important, but we are very, very close," one senior U.S. administration official said, speaking on condition he was not named. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Actually Moose, you need to ask Bill about that. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-08-14 11:11 |
| #2 Any story that begins with "Clinton prods" has a 50/50 chance of being in dubious taste. I don't even want to imagine Hillary Clinton prodding someone, or what she would wear to prod them with. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-08-14 10:16 |
| #1 Given how unimpeded Iran's nuclear program is going, I have a feeling the Paleostinians and the rest of the ME are just biding their time. Either way, it will be bad for Israel. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-08-14 02:45 |