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Miliband to attend Mid East talks at UN

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, May 11, IRNA – Foreign Secretary David Miliband was flying to New York to attend talks on the Middle East peace process at the United Nations Monday, which are seen as offering the US an opportunity to clarify any change in strategy emerging under President Barack Obama.

The UN talks, hosted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as the current holder of the Security Council presidency, include all members of the Middle East diplomatic quartet alongside non-permanent Security Council members, was called to give “new impetus” to stalled negotiations.

"We are concerned about the need to maintain the negotiations which have been taking place over the years. We'll be looking for a reaffirmation of the council's positions, and we expect that this is going to be reflected in the presidential statement," Russia's ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said ahead of the meeting.

Miliband will have a further opportunity to be briefed on US policy when he travels onto Washington on Tuesday for bilateral talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which are expected to include discussion on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran as well the Middle East, according to the British Foreign Office.

The new impetus of high-level diplomacy on the Middle East comes ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu paying his first visit to the US since becoming Israel’s new prime minister , since when he has yet to sign up to the two-state solution, unlike his predecessor Ehud Olmert even though no progress was made.

In an interview with the Times newspaper of London Monday, King Abdullah of Jordan warned the new US administration had little time, before fresh violence erupted, saying if peace negotiations were delayed “there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next 12-18 months.”

”If there is procrastination by Israel on the two-state solution or there is no clear American vision for how this is going to play out in 2009, then all the tremendous credibility that Obama has worldwide and in this region will evaporate overnight if nothing comes out in May,” the Jordanian monarch warned.