Palestinian, Egyptian Presidents Discuss Israel Peace Talks in Cairo
VOA News 12 August 2010
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo to discuss efforts to resume Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.
Mr. Abbas may also meet Thursday with Jordan's King Abdullah, who is visiting Cairo.
The meetings come two days after he met with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who is trying to get Israel and the Palestinians to engage in direct negotiations.
The Palestinian president declined Mitchell's proposal, insisting that the two sides first agree on an agenda for the talks and a timeline for the peace process. Mr. Abbas is also calling for a complete freeze of Israeli settlement construction on land Palestinians want for a future state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Mitchell that Israel wants talks without preconditions.
The Obama administration has been pushing for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks to resume early next month. Direct talks between Mr. Abbas and Mr. Netanyahu's predecessor, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, broke off in December 2008.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
