JERUSALEM // The United States and Israel ended another round of talks today with no sign yet of a deal on a West Bank settlement freeze, but a US envoy planned to meet again with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday. The decision to extend discussions kept open the possibility of a meeting next week involving Mr Netanyahu, the US president Barack Obama and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. All three will be at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Failure to arrange at least an informal encounter between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders would be a setback for Mr Obama, who has been trying to wring a settlement housing construction freeze from Mr Netanyahu and restart peace talks. Mr Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, who had held separate meetings with Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas yesterday, saw the Israeli leader again for two hours in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
A photo opportunity at the start of the meeting appeared to speak volumes. After a stiff handshake for the media, Mr Netanyahu turned his back on Mitchell with scarcely a word and strode into his office, leaving Mr Obama's envoy to follow behind. Mr Mitchell has been trying to work out a deal with a defiant Netanyahu over Washington's demand that he halt construction in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Mr Obama also wants Arab nations to take steps toward recognising Israel.
A statement issued by Mr Netanyahu's office after today's meeting with Mr Mitchell gave no indication any substantive progress was made: "The prime minister and Senator Mitchell had a good meeting this morning," the statement said. "They decided to continue their discussions in a meeting that will take place this coming Friday, after Senator Mitchell returns to Israel from visits to countries in the region."
The US State Department has said Mr Mitchell plans to visit Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon this week. Today, Israel also mounted a diplomatic offensive to try and contain damage from a damning UN report that accused the Jewish state and Palestinian militants of war crimes during the Gaza war. The foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "We are going to deploy great diplomatic and political efforts on the international stage to block and contain the perverse and noxious effects of the Goldstone Commission report.
"We fear this will be a hit to our image," he said. "But the recommendations of this report are so extreme that there is little chance that they will be followed on." *Reuters