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Netanyahu: We hope Palestinians will respond to peace efforts

24 April 2010 03:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Israel was intent on advancing efforts to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinian Authority, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Middle East envoy in Jerusalem Friday, adding that he hoped the Palestinians would be responsive to such attempts, APA reports quoting â€œHaaretzâ€.

"I look forward to working with the Obama administration to move peace forward," Netanyahu told Mitchell at the beginning of the meeting. "We are serious about it, we know you are serious about it and we hope the Palestinians respond."

The meeting, which the Prime Minister’s Office said went well, did not culminate with a new round of talks announced, with another meeting between the two scheduled for Sunday.
Earlier Friday, Mitchell held talks with Defense Minister Ehud Barak in the first round of a new mission to the region to revive Middle East peace negotiations amid strains in U.S.-Israeli relations.

Barak on Monday sounded a public alarm over the state of ties with Israel’s closest ally, saying Israel’s coalition "must act to change things."

A statement from his office said he had talked with Mitchell for an hour "about renewing talks with the Palestinians," but it gave no details. The statement said Barak "wished Senator Mitchell every success in his current mission."

The defense minister will hold another round of talks with Mitchell, as well as with other senior members of the Obama administration, during his visit to Washington next week.

Mitchell was due to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah later on Friday.

"I think we’re all now very focused on seeing what the Americans may come up with," said one European diplomat. "They’re the ones who may be able to move things along, though it’s not clear how."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also spoke with Abbas on Thursday before Mitchell’s arrival in the region.

State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley said on Thursday that extensive talks had been held with the Israelis and the Palestinians on concrete steps that both parties could take to improve the atmosphere, and that Mitchell would be continuing those talks.

When asked why Mitchell had decided to come to the region at a time when Netanyahu was entrenched in his position on Jerusalem, Crowley said the Obama administration had promised that Mitchell would visit after the recent holidays in Israel.

He said that talks had been held with the Israelis and the Palestinians since Mitchell’s last visit, including meetings with David Hale, Mitchell’s deputy, and Middle East policy adviser Dan Shapiro, and that with the conclusion of these talks Thursday, it was thought wise for Mitchell to go to the region.

Meanwhile, in a recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, 56 percent of respondents said they approved of what President Barack Obama was doing in Afghanistan, while 36 percent disapproved; 48 percent said they approved of his foreign policy in general, as opposed to 42 percent who did not. But when it came to Israel, 44 percent disapproved of Obama’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as opposed to 35 percent who approved.

Among Jewish respondents, the lack of support was more marked, with 67 percent expressing disapproval of Obama’s Middle East policies and only 28 percent approving.

The poll conducted among 1,930 people registered voters between April 14 and April 19, found that 57 percent of Americans say their sympathies lie with Israel and 66 percent say the president should be a "strong supporter" of Israel. Currently, 42 percent believe Obama is not a strong supporter of Israel as opposed to 34 percent who believe he is.

Among Republicans, only 16 percent believe Obama is a strong supporter of Israel as opposed to 53 percent of Democrats.

Doubts about Obama’s commitment to Israel increased with the age and the income levels of respondents.