Washington - United States President Barack Obama, making a fresh bid to break the deadlock on Middle East peace, called on Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states on Thursday to act simultaneously to help kick-start negotiations. Obama's proposal seeks to overcome deep disagreement between Israelis and Arabs on which side should go first in conciliatory gestures to revive a peace process the president has promised to relaunch since taking office in January.
The White House put forth the idea - but provided no specifics - in announcing that Obama had spoken by phone with Jordan's King Abdullah and "agreed on the need to launch Israeli-Palestinian negotiations as soon as possible".
"They also agreed that all parties - Israel, the Palestinians and Arab states - should take steps simultaneously to create a context in which these negotiations can succeed," Obama spokesperson Robert Gibbs told reporters.
The new twist in strategy followed Obama's statement, after a White House meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday, that he had seen progress on the thorny issue of Israeli settlement construction on occupied land.
Obama said there were encouraging signs after the Israeli government said it had not given final approval for any new housing projects in the West Bank since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-leaning coalition took office five months ago.
While Netanyahu appeared to be trying to appease Washington, Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said construction was continuing on 1 000 housing units.
Netanyahu has rejected Obama's push for a complete settlement freeze, and the impasse has created the most serious rift in US-Israeli relations in a decade. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will not resume peace talks with Israel until it stops all settlement expansion.
Poster Comment:
Nobody noticed, nobody cared what Obama said......Obama is wandering in a political wilderness right now, accompanied only by Rahm and Axelrod.