US Pushes to Keep Middle East Peace Talks Alive

17 November 2010

Palestinian men work on a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, near Jerusalem, 14 Nov 2010

The Middle East peace talks remain at a standstill as Israel considers a U.S. plan to extend a freeze on West Bank settlements in exchange for a number of incentives, including a squadron of advanced American warplanes.

The U.S. Department of State says the Obama administration is working intensively with the Israelis and Palestinians in order to move toward negotiations on all final status issues. Spokesman P.J. Crowley says the U.S. will do all it can to create conditions for both sides to have confidence to return to the talks.

"Our efforts are to get both parties back into direct negotiations as soon as possible," Crowley said. "We are engaged with the Israelis. We have engaged with the Palestinians."

Crowley says the U.S. message to the Israelis and Palestinians is the same, "get back to direct negotiations, work through the core issues; and get to a just, fair and equitable settlement within 12 months."

Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA it is unlikely the 2011 deadline suggested by the Obama administration will be met by the Israelis and Palestinians.

"They have been negotiating for a very long time and they have not been able to overcome the differences on some critical issues like Jerusalem or security arrangements," said the former foreign policy advisor to U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. "It may be too optimistic to expect the Israelis and Palestinians to come to an agreement by 2011 on all issues which separate them when they have not yet started negotiations."