Washington, January 11: Senior White House adviser Denis Ross’s secret visit to Israel last week has fueled speculations that he will replace George Mitchell as US envoy to the Middle East.
The visit, which was Ross’s second in three weeks, came ahead of a scheduled meeting between US administration officials and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s envoy Yitzhak Molcho in Washington this week, The Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday.
According to a statement released by the prime minister’s office earlier this week, a Palestinian official would also be traveling to Washington for talks. The report, however, has not been confirmed by the Palestinians.
Last month, Ross’s visit was overlapped by a separate visit by Mitchell, who was in the region with the aim of starting indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) a week after face-to-face negotiations collapsed.
A US official, however, denied that there had been any change in Mitchell’s status or role, saying he was due back in the region in the near future.
Direct talks between Israel and the PA reached a deadlock after Tel Aviv refused to extend a moratorium on settlement construction in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the occupied West Bank.
The international community has repeatedly urged Israel to stop the projects to help resolve the decades-long Middle East conflict.
Israel is defying the international calls with the construction of the settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds, which Israel occupied in 1967 and later annexed them in a move not recognized by the international community.
The settlements are considered illegal under the international law due to their construction on the occupied land.
Ross was the US Middle East envoy in the 1990s, when Netanyahu was serving his first term as the Israeli premier.
——–Agencies