Palestinian president discusses with Mitchell peace march, overall solution

Mitchell says U.S. administration insists on Palestinian statehood, backing Palestinian people's rights, settlement freeze

President Mubarak: We look forward to actual translation of President Obama's orientations

Jordan monarch says Palestinian issues is Jordanian issue

Israeli press information about "Obama's peace plan within two years"

U.S. envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, and assured him that Washington was committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Mitchell, who earlier met Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, called on both sides to meet their obligations under the 2003 US-sponsored peace “road map”. That plan commits Israel to halting settlement expansion and Palestinians to reining in militants.

Speaking after talks with Abbas in the West Bank, Mitchell said that the Obama administration had made it clear that “the only viable resolution to this conflict is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states,” Reuters reported.

Mitchell also reiterated comments that he made in talks with Israeli leaders, saying that Washington was seeking “prompt resolution and early conclusion” of peace talks.

Abbas made no comments to reporters.

A senior Palestinian official said Wednesday that Abbas and Mitchell held "positive and constructive" talks in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

During the talks, Mitchell emphasized the U.S. administration's intentions to revive stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), added the official, Saeb Erekat, in a statement sent to the press.

President Barack Obama's administration expects Israel and the Palestinians to carry out their obligations under the Road Map peace plan, Erekat continued.

"This is an important litmus test of fairness and balance in America's approach to Middle East peace," Erekat said, referring to the U.S.-backed plan.

Erekat stressed that the Road Map, which -- in its final phases-- envisions a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel, was "a framework already in place."

"While Palestinians have made significant progress in the areas of governance, finance and security sector reform in line with our Road Map obligations," Erekat said.

Israel has rejected increasing U.S. calls to freeze settlement activities in the West Bank, including the natural growth of the settlement blocs. Erekat accused Israel of evading its first obligation under the road map, "a comprehensive settlement freeze."

Mitchell arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah Wednesday and started a meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

On Tuesday, Mitchell met Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu who has been rejecting Obama administration's calls for freezing Jewish settlement in the West Bank, casting doubts over the feasibility of Palestinian statehood's negotiations.

An aide to Abbas said that Washington’s position was “encouraging” but that Israel’s stance was “obscure and disappointing,” according to Reuters.

On Tuesday, Mitchell met Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for four hours, and sought to play down tensions between Israel and the United States over the peace process.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Mitchell was told that Israel would not bring all settlement activity to a complete halt, despite Washington’s demand that it do so.

Netanyahu’s office said that the meeting, which included a two-hour one-on-one conversation, was “friendly and positive and encompassed the whole range of issues on the agenda.”

“Israel is working to promote peace and security with our Palestinian neighbors and the wider Arab world,” the statement read, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Netanyahu has not yet publicly endorsed the principle of a Palestinian state. He is expected to spell out his peace policies in an address on Sunday.

Ahead of that speech, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak urged Netanyahu to accept the two-state solution.

“The current government was formed with the commitment to respect the deals reached by preceding governments,” Barak told Israeli radio on Wednesday, according to AFP.

These include “the roadmap, which clearly states that the conflict must be resolved on the principle of two states for two peoples,” he added.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said U.S. President Barack Obama has presented a fresh understanding of Islam not shown by predecessors.

Obama called for a "new beginning" in ties between the United States and Muslims, many of whom felt targeted by the "war against terror" launched by former President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and his wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Under the past administration, there was a feeling that the Islamic world was a group of terrorists, Islam was hated and Muslims should be watched, and that the previous administration was scared of any Muslim," Mubarak told the Egyptian TV in his first interview since the U.S. president addressed the Muslim world from Cairo.

"But Obama came and said we will not fight Muslims and Islam. He is a sympathetic man, and says the United States will not fight Islam because Islam is a heavenly religion," he told state television in an interview broadcast late Wednesday.

Obama told Muslims in his June 4 speech that violent extremists had exploited tensions between Muslims and the West and that Islam was not part of the problem.

His speech was welcomed by many Muslims, though some said they wanted him to spell out specific actions to resolve long-running problems like the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Mubarak said he discussed the Palestinian issue with the U.S. president after telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a visit to Egypt prior to Obama's, that Israel needed to stop building settlements.

"Obama understands this issue well," Mubarak said. "Obama wants to solve the issue (of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict) and wants to do something, but we must help him on how to solve it ... and the Israelis must help him."

In his speech, Obama told both sides they had to declare publicly the realities he said they accept in private, a blunt message for a new U.S. president; his predecessors waited longer in office before tackling the thorny issue of Middle East peace.

Obama also said he would "personally pursue" a drive to set up a Palestinian state alongside Israel, a solution backed by Mubarak and other Arab states but not by Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah urged Israel and Palestinians on Thursday to build on the momentum generated by US President Barack Obama's peace drive to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"The US President's stances are creating a positive environment that needs to be built on by all the parties to reach a comprehensive and permanent solution to the conflict," a palace statement quoted the monarch telling George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy to the Middle East.

"The US role is crucial in the efforts to reach peace and attain stability in the region," he told Mitchell, adding that Obama's address on June 4 to the Muslim world from Cairo "embodied important messages," including the endorsement of a two-state solution.

The two-state solution, which is backed by Arab states but not by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was the only way to bring a lasting peace, the monarch said.

"The setting up of an independent Palestinian state based on a two-state solution is the only path to attaining peace and stability in the region," the monarch was quoted as saying.

King Abdullah also told Mitchell Israel must end settlement building and stop confiscating Arab property in Occupied East Jerusalem and end efforts to annex lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East War.

Mitchell said he discussed with the king how "to bring a swift renewal of peace talks," based on a 2003 "road map" that commits Israel to halting settlements expansion and Palestinians to rein in fighters.

Obama has presented to Egypt and Israel a plan for a two-state solution to be finalized within two years, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Tuesday.

A source in Cairo told the newspaper that Obama raised the plan with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latter's visit to Washington last month. According to the report, the plan envisions a Middle East peace deal by 2011 and would encompass an agreement for a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu is expected to respond to the proposal within six weeks, a deadline set after Obama's address in Cairo.

The Egyptian source said that Obama elaborated on the plan during his visit to Egypt last week in talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omer Suleiman and Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit. The Egyptian officials were implored to respond as soon as possible.

The Sunday Times reported earlier this month that Obama had given himself a two-year deadline to reach a breakthrough on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

The administration has been firm in its declarations that it would pursue a two-state solution and Obama has vowed to "change the conversation" with the Muslim world in order to widen the diplomatic circle involved in the peace process.

Netanyahu's confidants have said that the prime minister believes that Obama wants a confrontation with Israel, based on Obama's speech in Cairo last week.

In Netanyahu's opinion, the Americans believe an open controversy with Israel would serve the Obama administration's main objective of improving U.S. relations with the Arab world, the aides say.

In his speech, Obama called for a "new beginning" in relations between America and Islam, and spoke at length about the Israeli-Arab conflict.

On the other hand, Right-wing ministers meet with prime minister two days before his important speech in last-ditch efforts to influence its content. 'I am under the impression that Netanyahu hasn't changed his skin,' says Habayit Hayehudi chairman. Shas ministers ask PM to maintain ties with US, but not to cave in to international community's demands.

Right-wing ministers and MKs launch last-ditch efforts to influence PM's upcoming diplomatic speech.

"I am under the impression that Netanyahu has not changed his skin and remains devoted to national principles," Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz said Friday morning after meeting with the prime minister.

Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with Shas, Habayit Hayehudi and several Likud ministers and Knesset members who are pressing him not to cave in to the demands of the international community, led by the Obama administration, in the important speech he is set to deliver Sunday at Bar-Ilan University.

MK Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi) said after the meeting, "I am leaving in a calmer state than the one I arrived in. My impression is that there won't be an earthquake. Nonetheless, I am tense ahead of Netanyahu's speech."

Habayit Hayehudi Chairman Hershkowitz said upon leaving the meeting that "preventing the natural growth in the settlement would be an unethical move which we won't be able to accept. The two states for two people formula is unrealistic and contradicts the Likud's views."

Hershkowitz and his faction members have also begun operating among other right-wing government members, including Likud ministers, in order to constantly pressure Netanyahu.

The ministers of the Shas party asked the prime minister "to maintain the good relations with the United States, but not to harm the principles according to which this government was established.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai told Netanyahu during the meeting, "It's crucial to maintain the natural development in the settlements. However, we must avoid a conflict with the United States."

Senior Shas officials said that alongside the settlement issue, Israel must demand that the Palestinians launch a war on terror, stop inciting and recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Netanyahu is also being pressure in the international arena ahead of his speech. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed his hope Thursday that the prime minister would commit to the two-state solution. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined US President Barack Obama in calling on Israel to freeze settlement construction.

Solana met in Ramallah with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and called on Israel to halt construction in settlements, commit to a two-state solution and resume peace talks with the Palestinians.

Solana refused to say what would be the EU's response if Netanyahu continued to avoid supporting this solution.