U.S. envoy leaves Mideast with little progress toward peace talks

JERUSALEM — As U.S. envoy George J. Mitchell wrapped up his Mideast trip Friday with little to show for his efforts
to kick-start peace talks, the Obama administration is signaling a
growing pessimism that Israelis and Palestinians will return to
negotiations any time soon.

During his first visit since November, Mitchell met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. But officials on both sides said little progress was achieved toward restarting talks that collapsed a year ago.

Even as Mitchell was meeting principals in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, President Barack Obama expressed doubts about whether Israeli and Palestinian leaders were
prepared to make the kind of compromises needed to engage in a
“meaningful conversation,” he told Time magazine. “And I think we
overestimated our ability to persuade them to do so.”

Obama acknowledged his administration’s efforts
“this year didn’t produce the kind of breakthrough that we wanted, and
if we had anticipated some of these political problems on both sides
earlier, we might not have raised expectations as high.”

Having grown frustrated with its efforts to resolve
the Mideast conflict, the U.S. may be preparing to step back from the
diplomatic process.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that American efforts to broker talks would continue but
stressed that the next step would be up to the Israelis and
Palestinians.

“At the end of the day, they must make that decision,” Clinton said during a news conference with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

A U.S. role in mediating talks is seen as crucial to
bridging differences and building trust. During the summer, Obama
pressured Netanyahu to endorse the creation of a Palestinian state, but
the Israeli leader would not agree to a total freeze of construction on
lands seized after the 1967 Middle East war, including parts of east Jerusalem.

Palestinians have insisted they will not return to the negotiating table without a settlement freeze.

On the eve of meetings with Mitchell here, rhetoric from both sides dimmed hopes for a breakthrough.

“Palestinians have climbed up a tree … and they
like it up there,” Netanyahu said, referring to Palestinians’
preconditions for talks.

The Israeli leader also called for an Israeli
military presence along the eastern flank of any new Palestinian state
in order to prevent the import of weapons.

Palestinians negotiators said Israel was trying to sabotage talks and defended their demands for a halt in settlement construction.

“When we say (we want) a settlement freeze that includes Jerusalem,
that is not a Palestinian condition; it’s an Israeli obligation,” said
chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat after concluding talks with
Mitchell on Friday. Some analysts cautioned against attempting to
restart talks in the current hostile environment.

“I question the wisdom of the administration putting
so much of its prestige into starting negotiations when those
negotiations are not likely to succeed,” said Yossi Alpher,
co-editor of Bitterlemons.org, an Israeli political analysis firm.
“Failed negotiations could bring about a more serious deterioration in
the form of another intifada.”

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