EU, US badger Abbas, Netanyahu over peace talks
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                  World Jewish News

                  EU, US badger Abbas, Netanyahu over peace talks

                  EU, US badger Abbas, Netanyahu over peace talks

                  01.10.2010, Israel

                  International diplomatic efforts to salvage the direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks kicked into high gear Friday with top EU and US officials set for a flurry of meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah.
                  EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton held a breakfast meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank city of Ramallah before heading to Caesarea for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, her spokesman said.
                  She had met with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas late on Thursday shortly after arriving for 24 hours of intensive talks as part of US and EU efforts to rescue peace negotiations, which began on September 2 but are facing collapse over Israel's refusal to extend a moratorium on West Bank settlement building.
                  Ashton said Wednesday – as she was meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington - she will push for an extension of the Israeli freeze.
                  'More than anything, we would like to see of course the moratorium on settlement building continue,' Ashton said.
                  The United States and European Union have expressed disappointment that the moratorium was not extended.
                  US envoy George Mitchell, who arrived on Tuesday, was to meet Netanyahu during the morning, Israeli officials said. He was then to head to Ramallah where he would hold talks with Abbas for what would be their second meeting in 24 hours, a Palestinian official said.
                  Mitchell and Abbas had held two hours of talks at the Palestinian leader's Muqataa headquarters on Thursday, but there was no word about the outcome.
                  "We are determined to continue our efforts to find common ground between the parties to enable the direct negotiations to continue," Mitchell said after the talks, pledging to "continue our efforts intensively" in the coming days.
                  Both Mitchell and Ashton are fighting to persuade Abbas to stick with the negotiations despite Israel's refusal to extend the 10-month moratorium.
                  They are also hoping to persuade Netanyahu to reimpose the building ban -- a step which until now he has steadfastly refused to take, largely due to internal political constraints.
                  The flurry of diplomatic activity came as Israeli media reports suggested Netanyahu had turned down a US offer of a comprehensive package of benefits in exchange for a two-month extension of the freeze on new settlement building, which were reportedly laid out in a letter.
                  Details of the alleged offer were outlined in an article penned in The Jerusalem Post by US analyst David Makovsky, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who has ties to Obama adviser Dennis Ross.
                  Makovsky said the draft letter offered assurances on a range of peace and security issues - including a continued Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley after the creation of a Palestinian state – as well as weapons deals in the event of Middle East peace deal if Israel in exchange reinstituted the moratorium on new settlement construction for 60 days.
                  According to Makovsky, the US would not seek a second extension of the moratorium past 60 days. It promised that the US would veto any UN Security Council initiative that related to the peace process during the one-year timetable for negotiations.
                  In the letter the US, according to Makovsky, promised to accept the legitimacy of Israel’s security needs, including a ban on weapons smuggling and “the infiltration of terrorists” into Israel. It also discussed the need to “enhance Israel’s defense capabilities” by increasing military assistance.
                  Finally, the US, according to Makovsky, promised to “engage” Israel and Arab states in discussions of a “regional security architecture” with an eye toward Iran.
                  But Netanyahu was minded not to accept the offer, he said.
                  The White House and the State Department denied the existence of such a letter, and Israeli officials refused to comment on the reports which emerged earlier this week.
                  The moratorium expired on Sunday, but the Palestinians have said they will reserve a final decision on whether to withdraw from the talks until after Abbas has conferred with Arab foreign ministers.
                  That meeting had been due to take place in Cairo on October 4 but the Arab League postponed the summit to October 6 in order to help US-led efforts to save the talks, a spokesman told AFP on Thursday.
                  Cairo is pushing for the talks to be further delayed until October 8-9, when Arab diplomats are gathering in Libya, Egypt's official MENA news agency said.

                  EJP