Clinton to join 2nd round of talks in Sharm, Jerusalem
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will take part in the second round of negotiations between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Sharm e- Sheikh on September 14, and then continue the discussions “with both parties” the next day in Jerusalem, the State Department announced Sunday.
According to a State Department official, Clinton will be accompanied by US Mideast envoy George Mitchell. It was not immediately clear whether the secretary’s meetings in Jerusalem would be another trilateral session with Netanyahu and Abbas, or separate sessions with both sides.
Sunday’s announcement showed what Clinton meant when she said last Thursday at the State Department launch of direct talks that “the United States has pledged its full support for these talks, and we will be an active and sustained partner.”
She also said that the US “will not impose a solution,” and that only the leaders could “make the decisions necessary to reach an agreement and secure a peaceful future for the Israeli and Palestinian people.”
The heads of both sides’ negotiating teams – Yitzhak Molcho for Israel and Saeb Erekat for the Palestinian Authority – are expected to meet this week in Jerusalem before Rosh Hashana. Molcho will probably be joined by
however the Foreign Ministry’s Daniel Taub.
