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Int’l community prepared to press Israel, Palestine for talks
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the international community is prepared to put pressure on Israel and Palestine to bring them to the negotiating table for initiating peace talks.
“We have to urge the parties to put aside their reluctance or their distrust and begin the hard work of negotiating,” Clinton said.
“And Egypt, the US, the Quartet, everyone will stand prepared to put pressure on both sides to try to move toward a settlement of the outstanding issues,” Clinton told reporters in a joint media availability with the visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr.
Last week, US, Russia, Britain and the EU had asked Israel and Palestine to resume direct peace talks within a month and commit to seeking a deal by the end of 2012.
“The Quartet statement that came out last week referred President Obama’s May speech, where he clearly said, there needs to be negotiations about territory that he said had to be reflective of the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps; there had to be negotiations on security so that there could be an agreement about how you could transition security,” Clinton said.
One of the most important parts of the Camp David Accords was an agreement on security, she said.
Supporting Clinton’s viewpoint, Amr said, negotiation is the best way to this.
“This is very good, but there must be terms of reference, as the foreign minister said, and something to be abiding — they have to abide by — there must be a certain time they have to come to a conclusion over this term. Is there a possibly for arbitration as the end of the road, the last thing to hope,” Amr said in response to a question.
“I think we believe that negotiations should resume as soon as possible between Israelis and Palestinians with clear terms of reference and with a clearly defined timeline,” he said.
“Israeli illegal settlement activities continue to be an impediment in the road for peace, and we would like to see them stop. Our region is going through deep change and delicate times. Egypt and US will need to continue to work hand in hand in order to ensure that our peoples benefit from the opportunities that these changes bring,” Amr said.
“We have to urge the parties to put aside their reluctance or their distrust and begin the hard work of negotiating,” Clinton said.
“And Egypt, the US, the Quartet, everyone will stand prepared to put pressure on both sides to try to move toward a settlement of the outstanding issues,” Clinton told reporters in a joint media availability with the visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr.
Last week, US, Russia, Britain and the EU had asked Israel and Palestine to resume direct peace talks within a month and commit to seeking a deal by the end of 2012.
“The Quartet statement that came out last week referred President Obama’s May speech, where he clearly said, there needs to be negotiations about territory that he said had to be reflective of the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps; there had to be negotiations on security so that there could be an agreement about how you could transition security,” Clinton said.
One of the most important parts of the Camp David Accords was an agreement on security, she said.
Supporting Clinton’s viewpoint, Amr said, negotiation is the best way to this.
“This is very good, but there must be terms of reference, as the foreign minister said, and something to be abiding — they have to abide by — there must be a certain time they have to come to a conclusion over this term. Is there a possibly for arbitration as the end of the road, the last thing to hope,” Amr said in response to a question.
“I think we believe that negotiations should resume as soon as possible between Israelis and Palestinians with clear terms of reference and with a clearly defined timeline,” he said.
“Israeli illegal settlement activities continue to be an impediment in the road for peace, and we would like to see them stop. Our region is going through deep change and delicate times. Egypt and US will need to continue to work hand in hand in order to ensure that our peoples benefit from the opportunities that these changes bring,” Amr said.
