Washington, April 21: The United States said Thursday that the status quo cannot last in the Middle East, in response to Israel’s renewed refusal to halt illegal settlements as US envoy George Mitchell visited.
Former senator Mitchell decided late Wednesday to head back to the region after contacts with the Israelis and Palestinians indicated the trip could be “fruitful,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
As Mitchell arrived in the region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his refusal to freeze illegal Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem despite past appeals by the United States.
“We understand that the Israelis have a long-standing position,” Crowley said.
“But as (Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) has said repeatedly… the status quo is not sustainable,” Crowley said.
“Have they done everything that we’d like to see them do? No. But this is why we’re continuing this conversation,” he said.
Crowley said that Mitchell would meet both Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas and press both sides for a resumption of direct negotiations.
“We recognize that there are things that happened on the ground that can impede the ability” to start direct negotiations, Crowley said.
“Our focus here is on what do we need to do to get the parties into that direct negotiation. That is our focus,” he said.
Crowley said that Clinton spoke by telephone on Thursday with Abbas to lay the groundwork for Mitchell’s visit.
“There will be no freeze on construction in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu told Channel Two television. “Everyone knows it.”
Washington has for months been pressing both sides to revive negotiations suspended in December 2008, but its efforts have hit a dead end over illegal Israeli settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem.
On ties between the two staunch allies, Netanyahu said “we do not agree with the United States on everything. There are ups and downs… but the fact that our relations have a solid base allows us to overcome the problems.”
Washington had managed to convince the two sides to engage in indirect talks that would be run by Mitchell, but they got sidetracked in early March after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new units in occupied East Jerusalem.
Palestinian East Jerusalem has been under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967.
—Agencies