Israeli's are frustrated over 18 years of foot dragging in the peace process, this after 2 Prime Ministers went as far as they could go to answer every demand from the Palestinians , agreeing to a withdrawal to the '67 border, a joint government over the Temple mount in E. Jerusalem and even finding a solution to the refugee issue, and despite that the PA rejected the offer and declined Israel's stretched out hand for peace.
And to note that years out of 18 years of peace negotiations, PM Netanyahu was not in power and the Palestinians and the US administration dealt with 5 different Israeli Leaders, and even that did not bring to a final peace settlement.
But who is the One to Blame? of course -Netanyahu the only leader that actually went so far and not only with sweet talk but with actions in his first and second term towards the Palestinians , Now the US is voicing frustration on Netanyahu over the stalled "PROXIMITY" talks...
As Haaretz reports:
The PM's bureau said Monday that "Israel is conducting the proximity talks very thoroughly, on a variety of issues, in order to move as quickly as possible to direct talks."
And to note that years out of 18 years of peace negotiations, PM Netanyahu was not in power and the Palestinians and the US administration dealt with 5 different Israeli Leaders, and even that did not bring to a final peace settlement.
But who is the One to Blame? of course -Netanyahu the only leader that actually went so far and not only with sweet talk but with actions in his first and second term towards the Palestinians , Now the US is voicing frustration on Netanyahu over the stalled "PROXIMITY" talks...
As Haaretz reports:
U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell is frustrated by the conduct of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the proximity talks with the Palestinians. Mitchell, who is due in Israel on Thursday for another round of talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah, has expressed to Netanyahu his wish to see more progress by Israel on core issues.
A senior U.S. administration official told Haaretz Monday that Mitchell is interested in seeing more "seriousness" in talks on the core issues. "We want things to move faster and that there will be more progress on a number of issues," the senior U.S. official said. "To date there has been insufficient progress."
The senior U.S. official also said that the administration would like Netanyahu to show more willingness for substantive discussions on core issues, and to see the Palestinians moving toward direct talks with Israel.
The senior U.S. official said that the issues that were raised during talks between Netanyahu and Abbas and Mitchell were not identical - however, there was some overlap. "No one is refusing to discuss things that Mitchell wants to talk about," the American source said.
A senior Israeli source updated on some of the content of the proximity talks said that the American frustration stems from the fact that Netanyahu has so far not given any clear answers on the borders of the future Palestinian state. During the past three rounds of proximity talks Netanyahu opted to dedicate much of the meetings to relatively peripheral issues, like water, the economic relations between Israel and the Palestinian state, and the development of a "culture of peace" in a future Palestinian state.
The PM's bureau said Monday that "Israel is conducting the proximity talks very thoroughly, on a variety of issues, in order to move as quickly as possible to direct talks."