Obama plans to bring Palestinians and Israelis face to face at UN

Obama plans to bring Palestinians and Israelis face to face at UN

Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent



President Obama plans to bring Israeli and Palestinian leaders together for a face-to-face meeting at the United Nations General Assembly next month in a bid to revive long-stalled peace talks.

Plans for the meeting are being drawn up despite the failure of Mr Obama’s special envoy George Mitchell to strike a compromise over Jewish settlements that would allow the resumption of the negotiations, which were abandoned in March.

Washington is backing Palestinian calls for a freeze on settlement activity as a precondition to talks, leading to a rare public falling out with Israel.

In his talks with Mr Mitchell in London today, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, failed to win the compromise he was seeking, which would exempt settlements in East Jerusalem and continue to allow “natural growth” of existing West Bank settlements.

Israel views the proposed meeting between Mr Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, as a way of luring the Palestinians into talks by the back door without bending to their preconditions.

Washington is eager to get both sides to resume face-to-face contact as it prepares to unveil a new “holistic” peace plan for the Middle East, something Israel is keen to exploit.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6811275.ece