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US envoy renews push for peace talks

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-11 17:48

JERUSALEM: Washington's special Mideast envoy headed back to Jerusalem on Sunday to try to get peacemaking moving again, with a Nobel Peace Prize for his boss adding new pressure.

Envoy George Mitchell will be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to bridge the gaps that have kept talks from resuming after a months-long lull.

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Mitchell failed last week in talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials to bring the sides back to the negotiating table. Over the weekend, he traveled to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials who play leading roles in mediating conflicts in the region.

Both sides appear to have dug in to positions that haven't eased despite months of shuttle diplomacy. Israel refused to succumb to US pressure to freeze settlement construction, and recently appeared to have persuaded Washington to back away from that demand.

The Palestinians say they won't resume talks without that freeze. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be hard-pressed to back down on that demand after provoking unprecedented outrage among his people for suspending efforts to bring Israel before a Gaza Strip war crimes tribunal.

President Barack Obama made a personal push two weeks ago to jump start the stalled talks with a three-way meeting with Netanyahu and Abbas. But there has been no visible progress toward reviving a moribund peace process on which Obama has staked Washington's credibility and his own.

The US president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism.