Jewish extremists attack al-Aqsa Mosque

Palestinian presidency says fate of peace process to be clear next fall

Mitchell's talks in region make progress, Netanyahu rejects settlement freeze

Mitchell: We did not ask Arabs for immediate normalization with Israel, our objective is to resume Syria-Israel negotiations

Lebanese president urges pressures on Israel to apply resolution 1701

US efforts to restart the Middle East peace process may begin to bear fruit in the coming weeks, presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said on Wednesday.

Abu Rudeineh said in a statement published by the Palestinian official news agency WAFA that the recent visit to the region by George Mitchell the US Middle East envoy was highly important because he heard from all sides.

Mitchell met this week with top Palestinian and Israeli officials as a part of Washington’s ongoing quest to resurrect the frozen peace negotiations. Mitchell failed to convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a halt on construction in Israel’s settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories.

“The US administration will use the data which Mitchell collected to form their vision for the peace plan” in the future, he was quoted as saying.

He added that the main obstacle facing the peace process was Israel’s rejection of international demands to halt construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

According to Abu Rdeina, the coming weeks will be very decisive, and autumn will be very “hot” because it will become clear whether the US will succeed in pushing forward the peace process and crystallize a framework for that process.

The spokesperson said that President Mahmoud Abbas is committed to resuming the peace negotiations as soon as Israel completely stops settlement activity, including in Jerusalem, and accepts the two-state solution unconditionally. Far from being narrow Palestinian demands, he said, these conditions are built into agreements Israel signed previously.

Israeli police allowed 45 far-right Israelis to tour the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem in what Palestinians viewed as a provocation.

Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam. The compound, with the golden Dome of the Rock, is a focal point of Palestinian national pride. It is especially sensitive because some extremist Jewish groups seek the demolition of the present-day mosques and the construction of a “Third Temple.”

The director of the Islamic endowment (Waqf) office in Jerusalem, Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, said that Israeli police escorted the settlers to protect them. He explained that they entered in groups of 12 to 15. No physical confrontations were reported.

On Tuesday evening, right-wing Israeli groups rallied inside the Old City of Jerusalem near Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Police closed Al-Wad road to protect them and facilitate the demonstration. Palestinian shop owners were forced to shut down their shops at 6:00pm.

Some of the Israelis assaulted Palestinian Jerusalemites and their properties near the Silwan Girls School in the Mughrebi Gate area. Six Palestinians were injured. U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones had talks with senior Israeli officials Wednesday as part of a push by Washington to revive stalled Middle East peace talks.

Jones, the last of three senior U.S. officials visiting the region this week, met Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv, Barak's office said without providing details on the discussions.

Jones is also due to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before holding talks with the Palestinian leadership Thursday in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier this week U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell held talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on separate trips. The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is on a diplomatic drive to re-launch the stalled Middle East peace process with a view to a "comprehensive" deal between Israel and all its Arab neighbors.

US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell called on Arab states to fully normalize ties with Israel, after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the latest leg of a regional tour.

Mitchell said after the talks that Washington was asking countries in the region to set the “context” for comprehensive peace negotiations.

“By comprehensive I mean peace between Israel and Palestinians, between Israel and Syria, between Israel and Lebanon and the full normalization of relations between Israel and the countries of the region,” he said. “We’re not asking anyone to achieve full normalization at this time; we recognize that will come further down the road in this process.”

Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel, but neither has fully normalized ties. Some other Arab countries, such as Qatar, have trade relations with Israel.

After the Mubarak meeting, Mitchell headed to the occupied West Bank where he is to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Mitchell had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, likely to focus on US demands that Israel halt settlement activity in the West Bank. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, had received in Abu Dhabi the US special envoy to the Middle East, who is currently touring the region.

At a meeting held at the Emirates Palace, they reviewed the latest developments at the regional and international levels and discussed ways for activating the peace process in the region. The discussions also touched upon a number of other issues of mutual concern.

Sheikh Mohammed stressed the need for serious movement to push the Palestinian and Israeli sides towards the course of peace negotiations as well as the efforts to find a permanent and comprehensive solution for peace based on the legitimate international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Amid a flurry of US diplomatic activity, Mitchell on Sunday held his second meeting in as many months with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The US envoy described the talks in Damascus, the Syrian capital, as “candid and positive” but neither side reported concrete progress. The Obama administration has said that it wishes to explore repairing ties with Syria which have been strained for years.

The US has decided to send an ambassador to the Syrian capital, after a gap of four years, but the country remains under US sanctions.

Mr Mitchell emphasised that the administration sees Syria as an important party in achieving overall Israeli-Arab peace. “We will welcome the full cooperation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic in this historic endeavour,” he said in a statement.

The envoy’s tour also takes him to Israel and coincides with other high-level US visits. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, National Security Advisor James Jones and White House Iran specialist Dennis Ross are also due in the region.

Gates’ talks in Israel and Jordan are expected to focus on Israeli arms requests, the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme and the US withdrawal from Iraq.

The presence of so many high-level US officials in the region comes amid renewed tough talk by the administration on Iran’s nuclear programme and as US-Israeli ties remain strained over demands for a freeze on the construction of Jewish settlements on occupied territory.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, speaking at the start of a weekly cabinet session on Sunday, tried to play down his differences with the US. “It is only natural, that within a fabric of friendly relations between allies, there isn’t full agreement on all points,” he said. Mr Netanyahu said that he was working on an understanding with the US on a range of issues and that the relationship was “steadfast”.

The settlement issue is a major stumbling block in the administration’s efforts to promote a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mr Mitchell’s return to Damascus may indicate that the US is hoping to re-launch Israeli-Syrian talks. The two countries held indirect talks, mediated by Turkey, until late last year, when Damascus broke off contacts over Israel’s assault on the Gaza strip.

The official Syrian position is that Mr Netanyahu’s government which came to power earlier this year is “no partner for peace”.

Syria is also seen as playing an important role in two other areas that are important to US policy in the region, Lebanon, were talks on a new government are still ongoing, and Iraq.

Damascus, internationally isolated only a few years ago, has been the focus of a lot of international and regional diplomacy lately.

Last week, Walid Mualem, Syria’s foreign minister, met David Miliband, the British foreign secretary in London, after which he said that Mr Mitchell’s meetings in Damascus represented “the first step of dialogue”.

Meanwhile, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday that possible resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks can make progress only if the United States presses Israel to it.

"If the U.S. administration fails to pressure Israel to stop settlement, there will be no convenient reason to make progress in talking about fateful issues like Jerusalem, refugees, borders, water and prisoners," Erekat told Xinhua.

Under the Road Map peace plan, Israel and the Palestinians have to take a series of steps alongside negotiations until reaching a solution based on establishing a Palestinian statehood alongside the Jewish one.

However, Israel continues Jewish settlement in the West Bank, contradicting the first phase of the U.S.-backed plan.

The Palestinians protest that the settlements are being built on their land which would be part of their future statehood.

"The Palestinians are adhering to their obligations under the Road Map and the settlement issue is an Israeli obligation that must be carried out," Erekat added.

He also called on Israel to open the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) institutions in East Jerusalem and remove checkpoints in the West Bank, all Israeli obligations under the Road Map.

Erekat's comments came amid a latest trip by U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell to the region, which included stops at Syria, Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian territories.

Mitchell was in Israel to meet with hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after meeting with Erekat, Palestinian Premier Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday.

When Netanyahu formed his government five months ago, the PNA declared it can not continue the peace talks unless Netanyahu stops the settlements and endorse the two-state solution.

In Beirut, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called Thursday for the full implementation of UN Resolution 1701 with no amendments or restrictions.

"The full implementation of Resolution 1701 would reinforce Lebanon's international stand in defending its legal rights and exposing Israel's violations of Lebanese sovereignty," said a statement by the president's press office.

The statement added that the president followed up contacts carried out by Lebanon with members of the UN Security Council prior to its meeting next week.

Lebanon sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, calling on the international body to look into Israel's activities in Kfarshouba, stressing Lebanon's rejection of any change to the rules of engagements under Resolution 1701.

Israel set up two weeks ago an unmanned post on the disputed Kfarshouba hills. Israel's action prompted a group of Lebanese residents in mid-July to enter the area, waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags. Israel said the incident is a violation of UN Resolution 1701.

UN Resolution 1701 ended the 34-day devastating war in July 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah. According to the resolution, UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were reinforced in the south to assist the Lebanese army and prevent any hostile actions between Hezbollah and Israel.