U.S. Special Middle East Envoy, George Mitchell, will start his Middle East tour on Saturday evening as he will be holding separate meetings with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv, and Palestinian officials in Ramallah.His tour aims at discussing the means to start indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Nabil Abu Rodeina, Palestinian Presidency spokesperson, stated that the decision of the Arab League to support indirect talks with Israel is another Arab and Palestinian effort to give the administration of U.S. President, Barack Obama, as chance to save “what could be saved”.
He added that the Palestinian Authority is convinced that the government of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not serious and not ready for peace.
The Obama administration vowed to play an essential role in the indirect talks, and threatened to expose any official who is responsible for sabotaging the talks which will start in the coming days.
The United States sent a letter to the Palestinian Authority informing the Palestinian officials that the administration expects both sides to be serious and positive. It also said that that it is willing to act in order to overcome the obstacles.
Israeli paper, Haaretz, published the letter and reported that this document was a decisive element that encouraged the Palestinians and the Arab League to adopt the indirect, US sponsored talks.
It is worth mentioning that US Vice President, Joe Biden, is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday. This visit is expected to be timed with the declaration of the beginning of indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks.
During a meeting with the Labor Party in Israel, Israel Trade, Industry and Labor Minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, said that he is optimistic that the talks would start very soon.
Addressing Labor Party members in Haifa on Friday evening, Ben-Eliezer said that Israel reached a very important step, and that the country is being portrayed in the world as a country that practices apartheid.
The Change and Reform Parliamentary Bloc of the Hamas movement said that Mitchell’s visit is meant to market Israel’s policies.
It added that the US administration and this visit will not do any positive thing to the Palestinians and will only push the Israeli-American agenda that does not serve the Palestinian interest.
