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U.S. Envoy to Begin Talks on "Core Issues"

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell will begin a new phase in the diplomatic process when he meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday. As part of its new diplomatic track toward a framework agreement, the U.S. will begin discussing intensively, but separately, the core issues of refugees, borders and security, settlements, Jerusalem, and water with Israel and the Palestinians. Responding to an op-ed piece by chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat in The Guardian on Friday, one Israeli official said, "By pursuing a hard-line position on refugees, he [Erekat] is actually making peace more difficult. The international community and leading Palestinian moderates have all spoken about the need for the Palestinians to compromise on the traditional position on the refugees, but in his op-ed piece, Erekat reaffirmed the hard-line Palestinian position, and in doing so - rather than showing flexibility - has showed an unwillingness to compromise."
2010-12-13 08:13:39
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