Israeli sources reported that American Middle East Envoy, George Mitchell, will be back in the region for one week in order to hold talks with Israel and the Palestinian leadership on the resumption of peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, stated that indirect talks, mediated by Israel, will start this coming week.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed the visit and stated that he expects a Palestinian decision in this regard.
Netanyahu added that “Israel is interested in the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians but without preconditions”.
A senior source at Netanyahu’s office said that if the Palestinians are interested “they will not be talking about preconditions”, and added that “such preconditions will not happened and will not be accepted”.
By talking about preconditions, Israel refers to the legitimate Palestinian demands that Israel freezes its settlement activities in the occupied territories and in occupied East Jerusalem, and to stop its invasions and attack.
The Follow-up Committee of the Arab Peace Initiative in Cairo decided to approve the launching of indirect Palestinian-Israel I peace talks under direct American supervision.
The Committee said that such talks should have a timeframe that does not exceed four months. Syria and Lebanon expressed reservations over the decision and said that the committee had exceeded its authority.
