13 August 2010 / REUTERS, JERUSALEM
Israel has rejected a Palestinian proposal to begin face-to-face peace talks on the basis of a statement by major powers that would set their terms of reference, Israeli newspaper reports said on Thursday.
Reports in the left-wing dailies Haaretz and Maariv said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday that he wants direct talks to start immediately but will not accept any preconditions. Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev had no direct comment on the reports, which said Mitchell’s mission had “failed.” “The government of Israel has been calling for the immediate start of direct peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians for more than a year now,” Regev told Reuters. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to engage in direct talks before Netanyahu agrees to a clear agenda. Without an agenda, Palestinians say, Netanyahu may propose terms for a peace treaty that are completely unacceptable, and leave Abbas looking like a rejectionist when he turns them down. This week ahead of Mitchell’s latest shuttle visit Abbas indicated that he could go for face-to-face negotiations, if talks were based on a March 19 statement by the “Quartet” of powers involved in Middle East diplomacy -- the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations. This was the proposal Mitchell took to Netanyahu, the newspaper reports said, although it is not clear whether Israel was asked to formally sign up to it or merely acknowledge it.
