Israel And Palestine Return To Talks

Israel And Palestine Return To Talks

United States President Barack Obama on Wednesday warned militant Hamas that the United States and its allies won't be stopped in their pursuit of peace by the acts of terrorists.

Opening Mideast talks just after fresh violence and standing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Mr. Obama condemned the killings on Tuesday of four Israelis who were shot while traveling near the West Bank city of Hebron.

A Palestinian gunman opened fire on an Israeli vehicle traveling near the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday, killing four passengers.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for the killing.

Unwavering to commitment peace

''I want everybody to be very clear; the United States is going to be unwavering in its support of Israel's security. And we are going to push back against these kinds of terrorist attacks. And so the message should go out to Hamas and everyone else who is taking credit for these heinous crimes that this is not going to stop us.'' Obama said.

Netanyahu praised Obama for his support and for expressing the sentiments of ‘decent people everywhere.'

Both leaders said their opening talks on Wednesday morning, part of a series of separate discussions that also were to include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, were productive.

President Barack Obama hosts the new round of Mideast peacemaking, bringing Israeli and Palestinian leaders to the White House for talks aimed at forging agreement within one year on a two-state solution: a sovereign Palestine and a secure Israel.

Formal talks hold on Thursday

After separate sessions with the leaders of Jordan and Egypt, the five men were to gather for dinner.

Formal negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders are to begin on Thursday at the State Department, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton serving as host. Clinton has spent months coaxing the parties back to the bargaining table.

It will mark the first face-to-face negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians since December 2008.

In remarks to reporters before their meeting on Tuesday evening at a Washington hotel, Netanyahu, with Clinton at his side, said: ''We will not let terror decide where Israelis live or the configuration of our final borders. These and other issues will be determined in negotiations for peace that we are conducting and in these negotiations.''

Clinton was equally firm.

''We pledge to do all we can always to protect and defend the state of Israel and to provide security to the Israeli people, that is one of the paramount objectives that Israel has and the United States supports in these negotiations,'' she said.

‘A shift of grounds'

West Bank settlers said on Wednesday they will break a government freeze on construction in their communities to protest the attack.

Former Senator George Mitchell, Obama's special Mideast peace envoy, said on Tuesday that a strong argument can be made that allowing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to continue indefinitely is more dangerous than making the hard decisions necessary for a peace agreement.

The goal of reaching a deal within one year is intended, Mitchell said, to counter a sense among many in the Mideast that years of inconclusive negotiations mean the process is never-ending.

American officials are hopeful they can at least get the two sides to agree to a second round of talks, likely to be held in the second week of September in Egypt. That could be followed by another meeting between Obama, Netanyahu and Abbas on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly near the end of the month.

One major immediate challenge in the talks will be the Palestinians' demand that Israel extend a 10 -month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank. The freeze expires on Sept. 26.

The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Beyond the settlements, Israel and the Palestinians face numerous hurdles on resolving the other issues of contention, notably the borders of a future Palestinian state, the political status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Also complicating the outlook for peace are internal Palestinian divisions that have led to a split between Abbas' West Bank-based administration and Hamas, which is in control of Gaza. Hamas is not part of the negotiations and has asserted that talks will be futile.

Israel's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday the Jewish state would be willing to hand over parts of Jerusalem in peace talks with the Palestinians to be launched by US President Barack Obama.

AP/ REUTERS/Williams/Yinka