Obama ignites new round of Mideast peace talks

Published 02 September, 2010, 02:54

Edited 02 September, 2010, 18:41

US President Barack Obama ushered in a new round of Middle East peace talks, meeting separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.


Welcoming the two leaders to the White House, Obama called on Netanyahu and Abbas to recognize that “this moment of opportunity may not come again soon.”

Obama has earlier expressed hope of reaching a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians within the year.

Moscow shares the same view. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that the negotiations are not going to be easy, but sitting down to talks is in itself a chance “that can’t be wasted.”

“We back the direct talks between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, although they have caused an ambivalent reaction in Palestinian and Arab circles,” said Sergey Lavrov.

Settlement construction has become the crucial issue on the table which could determine the success or failure of negotiations.

Read more

The talks began in the wake of the killing of four Israeli settlers in Hebron on Tuesday by the militant group Hamas, which has opposed direct peace talks. In response to the shooting, a right-wing Israeli group has unilaterally started new building work in the occupied West Bank.

Daniel Pollak, the co-director for government relations with the Zionist Organization of America argued that Hamas has no place in the peace talks, because the group teaches violence, not peace. Whereas Yousef Munayyer, the executive director of the Palestine Center said that all players should be included.

In a word, Hamas is claiming responsibility for the terrorist attack that killed four unarmed civilians yesterday and including them in the peace talks would make peace no more likely. But, unfortunately this entire affair is destined to come down to how much the Palestinians want peace at all and the news there is very bad,” said Pollak.

Munayyer argued that the chances are slim a deal will be reached in the next your. The process, he argued, simply does not allow for a swift solution.

We are no longer in the pre-2006 era before the election that Hamas won and came into power. Since that time we’ve had this major question of legitimacy within the Palestinian domestic political arena and we can’t go about talking about peace the same way we did before that area if we can’t bring everybody into the discussion,” said Munayyer.

Pollak argued that they would be a determent, since they are not a partner for peace but instead have called for the killing of all Jews.

Munayyer pointed out that on the Israeli side there are a number of people who are violent and refuse to acknowledge Palestinian rights; some even calling for genocide. 


2.6/5 (5 votes)

12345

rate this story

discuss it

Have the US and NATO lost the war in Afghanistan? Post your opinion!

RT asks

Victor Bout’s extradition will end with:

Dmitry Gorshkov

“Anti-Borat” to tell truth about Kazakhstan

Kazakh director Erkin Rakishev has announced his plan to shoot a sequel to...

Read full story
Evgeny Khrushchev

UNAMA HR devil’s advocate: part two. Afghan WMD collateral damage

The Methodology section offers contradicting disclaimers that effectively...

Read full story

« previous page

next page »