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US envoy meets Israeli defence minister in push for peace
Jerusalem (AFP) Jan 23, 2010 US envoy George Mitchell met Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday as he pursued his efforts to revive the Middle East peace process. A brief statement from the defence ministry said discussions between Mitchell and Barak had "centred on the means of relaunching the peace process." The meeting came a day after Mitchell held talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the day before with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid pessimism of any breakthrough. Israelis and Palestinians have been blaming each other for the stalemate with Mitchell able to convince them to return to the negotiating table. On Friday chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Israel was responsible for the lack of progress and also acknowledged there were differences between the Palestinians and US administration. "The American side wants to resume negotiations now without a complete halt to settlements," Erakat said. "We want to resume negotiations on the basis of defining the borders of the Palestinian state on all Palestinian lands occupied since 1967 including east Jerusalem, and a complete halt to all settlement activities," he said. A statement from Netanyahu's office blamed the Palestinians for blocking the resumption of peace talks, suspended since Israel's devastating 22-day war on the Gaza Strip last winter. "Israel is not making any conditions for the resumption of negotiations. The Palestinians are undermining this resumption by making conditions which they had never made before," it said. Officials in Netanyahu's office said the prime minister could meet again with Mitchell on Sunday. US President Barack Obama has admitted his drive for a deal may have been overambitious and told the latest edition of Time Magazine: "This is as intractable a problem as you get." Obama said if his administration had anticipated the political problems, "we might not have raised expectations as high." Washington had pressed hard for Israel to freeze settlement construction, which Abbas has demanded ahead of any resumption of talks. Mitchell has also visited Lebanon and Syria during his latest mission to the region which started Tuesday.
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