Washington - The United States said on Monday it would be "quite happy" if Israel and the Palestinians were to make progress on reviving Middle East peace efforts at the United Nations General Assembly in late September.
"We're certainly hopeful that we can continue to make progress. And if that happens in New York, we would be quite happy," said White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs.
Gibbs spoke after the European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said Israel may agree to a West Bank settlement freeze by mid-September and is discussing the technical aspects of a deal with the United States.
Solana also said after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a summit grouping the US, Israeli and Palestinian leaders to relaunch the peace process could take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Continues Below ↓
Gibbs did not explicitly confirm Solana's account, but underlined that US President Barack Obama was still pushing Israel to freeze settlement activity.
"The president's views on this have been made clear. There's been no directional change from us," said Gibbs.
The issue of settlements, which the international community considers illegal, is seen as one of the major hurdles in Middle East peace efforts.
"We're certainly hopeful that progress is being made and that we can see that progress continue in the near future," he said.
Gibbs declined to comment on a new poll from the Jerusalem Post that found only four percent of Jewish Israelis believe Obama's policies are pro-Israel and 50 percent oppose a temporary freeze of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. - AFP
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
