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Mitchell meets FM, reiterates commitment to two states
Apr. 16, 2009
herb keinon and jpost.com staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
herb keinon and jpost.com staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
US envoy George Mitchell on Thursday reiterated that the US remained committed to Palestinian statehood, countering comments by Israeli ministers to the effect that the new government was not bound to a two-state solution.
"The US policy favors a two-state solution, which would have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the Jewish state of Israel," Mitchell said after meeting with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Jerusalem.
Mitchell said that the two had a "good, full and candid discussion covering both the history of the peace process, going back to the 1990s, and continuing to the present, and also looking into the future on what can be done to achieve our common objectives."
"We agreed to meet again, and we look forward to exchanging ideas on future visits when we can compare the progress we are making as we seek to move forward," continued the US envoy.
Lieberman, who caused waves earlier this month when he said that Israel was not bound by the Annapolis process - although he reiterated the country's commitment to the road map - said after the meeting that he and Mitchell spoke about "close cooperation."
"We are looking forward to the next meeting and some really deep dialogue," he said. It was Mitchell's first meeting with Lieberman as foreign minister.
A statement released by the Foreign Ministry said that Lieberman had told Mitchell that, "thus far, the traditional approach has not brought any results or solutions."
Lieberman emphasized that previous prime ministers had already shown readiness to make "far-reaching concessions" and cited the previous government's legacies of "the Second Lebanon War and the operation in Gaza, as well as the severing of ties with Qatar and Mauritania; Gilad Schalit is still in captivity and the diplomatic process is at [a] dead end."
Lieberman said that he expected the international community to not only rally behind Israel's security concerns but also to affirm its commitment to Israel's Jewish character.
Mitchell's statement echoed remarks he had made earlier in the day in a meeting with President Shimon Peres. Mitchell assured the president that the US was wholly committed to Israel's security and reiterated Washington's commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The opening point of American foreign policy is an absolute and strong commitment to the security of the state of Israel and its people," said the US envoy. "Both President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have said this. We are committed to two states for two peoples living alongside each other in security and peace and we shall act accordingly."
Peres urged Mitchell not to let the pessimism and the negative voices being heard in the region affect him.
"There is an opening point for promoting the political process," said the president. "No door to peace has been closed and I believe that this year is a decisive year in the Middle East. We do not have time to waste."
The president went on to say that Obama's policy to attain peace in the region matched Israel's position, stressing that while Israel wanted peace, it would not compromise on security.
Referring to the upcoming Durban II Conference, Peres told Mitchell it was "a conference of self-righteous people who boast at having invited [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad as the guest of honor."
He questioned whether the conference could contribute to the cessation of the arms smuggling to Gaza, a phenomenon he said Israel would not put up with.
"We will not sit with folded arms and wait for rockets to fall on Tel Aviv," he said.
Greer Fay Cashman contributed to this report
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Ministers renounce two-state solution
Apr. 16, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
As US emissary George Mitchell was making the rounds in Jerusalem Thursday and reaffirming President Barack Obama's commitment to Palestinian statehood, Israeli ministers were distancing themselves from a two-state solution.
"The preferable course of diplomatic action at this time is two economies for two peoples and not two states for two peoples," Interior Minister Eli Yishai said. "The American emissary also knows that forcing the region into virtual diplomatic discourse will only breed the opposite results."
Speaking to Army Radio, Yishai expounded on the "economic peace" propounded by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saying, "It would be more correct to create trust through economic discourse which is essentially a Palestinian interest."
By "enlisting" to aid the recovery of the Palestinian economy, he said, the international community would also be helping the Palestinian public "relinquish terror."
Earlier, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz rejected the Annapolis process and said that Israel would not accept a two-state solution as the basis for talks.
"The Annapolis outline has failed and is no longer binding," Katz said in an interview with Israel Radio, emphasizing that Netanyahu would "formulate a diplomatic approach that takes into account all of the different elements, and first and foremost Israel's security."
Commenting on a statement by Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who said on Wednesday that Cairo would not work with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Katz stated that the government would do "everything it takes" in order to safeguard Israel's "strategic relationship" with Egypt.
He admitted that certain remarks made by Lieberman in the past, including a comment that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak could "go to hell" if he did not agree to make an official visit to Jerusalem, were "unfortunate," but said he would not recommend an apology on the part of the foreign minister.
Responding to Katz's comments, MK Yuli Tamir (Labor) said that "it is rapidly emerging that the government has no understanding of our international context and is putting us on a collision course with Europe and the US. The entire world supports Annapolis while Israel alone singles itself out as a dissenter." 
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Mitchell's Message: 'We Want a PA State'
Nisan 22, 5769, 16 April 09 01:40
by Hana Levi Julian(IsraelNN.com) United States Middle East envoy George Mitchell warned Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday that America will not budge from its commitment to carving out a new Palestinian Authority state from within Israel's current borders.
Mitchell, who arrived in Israel Wednesday evening, made the comment after he met for the first time with Lieberman in his new role as foreign minister.
Lieberman raised eyebrows earlier in the month when he stated that the Netanyahu government would not be bound by decisions made in Annapolis in November 2007, noting they had never been ratified by the government, nor had they been approved by the Knesset.
"The U.S. policy favors a two-state solution, which would have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside with the Jewish State of Israel," Mitchell told reporters following the meeting.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai commented that regardless of what the new administration of U.S. President Barack Obama might want, Israel could not be forced down a path that might be unrealistic.
"The preferable course of diplomatic action at this time is two economies for two peoples, and not two states for two peoples," Yishai told reporters. "The American emissary also knows that forcing the region into virtual diplomatic discourse will only breed the opposite results."
The U.S. envoy is scheduled for meetings throughout the day with Israeli officials; Wednesday night he met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and before meeting with Lieberman had already held talks with President Shimon Peres.
Peres, too, informed MItchell that while Israel has always been interested in achieving peace in the region, it would not be at the expense of her own security.
The issue of weighing Israel's security against America's interests in the region is not new; it has also become an increasingly sensitive topic in high-level discussions over how to deal with the Iranian nuclear development threat.
The Hebrew-language daily Yediot Acharanot reported Thursday that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told an American Jewish leader that a PA state would be forced down Israel's throat by the end of Obama's term, regardless of which government rules.
"In the next four years, there will be a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, based on 'two states for two peoples,' and we couldn't care less who the prime minister is," Emanuel was quoted as saying.
The newspaper also reported that the Obama administration that the U.S. would not help Israel neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat unless Jerusalem agrees to a disengagement in Judea and Samaria.
The paper reported on a "Bushehr for Yitzhar" plan -- meaning the U.S. would swap its help in neutralizing the Bushehr nuclear reactor and other installations in exchange for Israel destroying the Samarian Jewish community of Yitzhar and approximately 170 other neighboring towns.
Despite Israel's urgent warnings that time is running out, the U.S. has committed itself to an unlimited time frame on negotiations with the Islamic Republic over its uranium enrichment program, even as it continues apace. Israeli and other Western intelligence officials are convinced that Iran is working toward development of an atomic weapon, despite its denials.
Mitchell is slated to meet later in the day with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni. On Friday he will head to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad before moving on to Cairo and Riyadh.
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