[Jerusalem Post] Herb Keinon - Jerusalem's objections to U.S. shuttle diplomacy between Israel and the Palestinians over final-status issues led to the postponement Monday night of a press conference at which U.S. Secretary of State Rice was expected to outline this new initiative, senior diplomatic officials said Monday. Rice was expected to announce that direct talks between Israel and the PA would be replaced by parallel discussions she would hold with both sides over "political horizon" issues dealing with the contours of a future Palestinian state. Israel has stated that as a result of the formation of the new PA unity government, it would no longer hold "substantive" talks with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas - only talks dealing with humanitarian and security issues. "Israel's position is not in favor of talking about these [final status] issues at this point," an official said. Moreover, "engaging in final-status discussions now - when the time is not right and neither side is prepared - could lead, if the talks falter, to another round of violence," the official said.
2007-03-27 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive