The Israeli prime minister has said he expects peace talks with the Palestinians, which have been stalled for more than a year, to resume in the coming weeks.
"I have reasons to believe, realistically, that we will resume the peace process with the Palestinians, without prior conditions, in the coming weeks," Binyamin Netanyahu told a conference on security in Herzliya, northern Israel, on Wednesday.
Without providing details, Netanyahu suggested that the United States had a hand in the breakthrough.
"It is customary to say that it takes two to tango, but it sometimes takes three in the Middle East, at least to get started dancing the tango, after which I suppose a couple can carry on dancing," he said.
New initiative
"I hope that if there is willingness on the Palestinian side to build peace, to conduct negotiations to reach a peace accord, we will see a resumption of the peace process in the coming weeks," he added.
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from Herzliya, said that Netanyahu's optimisim was not reflected on the ground.
"Certainly there's nothing of a tangible, actual nature that seems to be happening on the ground at the moment that would give any calls for such optimism.
"I think he made very clear the yawning gap between the Israeli and Palestinian position."
Netanyahu did not reveal the basis on which the talks would take place.
But George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, was in the region at the end of January. He met with leaders on both sides and presented a new initiative aimed at bringing the parties closer together.
At the time, Netanyahu spoke of "interesting ideas," but did not elaborate.
For his part, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said on Monday that he would give a response to Mitchell's proposal within a week.
'US suggestion'
A senior Israeli official told AFP the United States had suggested "discussions take place initially at the level of teams working on different subjects, before proposing confidence-building measures."
Such a strategy would pave the way for "normal discussions to resume," the official added, without elaborating.
Abbas has not dropped his demand that Israel halt all settlement growth in the occupied West Bank and mostly Arab east Jerusalem ahead of any talks, or his insistance on a framework of guidelines for the negotiations.
Talks came to an abrupt halt when Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in December 2008 in a brief but very deadly war.
The four-day conference in Herzliya that started on Sunday was attended mainly by Israeli officials to discuss politics and the state of the Israeli nation.
Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, met Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, in a conference session on Tuesday - the first meeting of senior officials from the two sides since the talks broke down.
The annual conference has gained a reputation over the years as a platform for announcement of new Israeli policies.
Source: Al Jazeera
Showing posts with label Peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peace. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Peace agreement eludes Yemen
Yemen's government has presented northern Houthi fighters with a detailed ceasefire agreement in a bid to end a six-year conflict.
Abdul-Karim al-Iryani, an adviser to Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said the peace deal issued on Saturday gives a "timetable" for a truce between the Houthis and the Yemeni government.
But heavy clashes between government forces and Houthi fighters continue to rock northern parts of Yemen.
Houthi fighters said they killed 23 Yemeni soldiers in two attacks on Saturday while the military said 11 Houthi fighters were killed in air attacks the same day.
Al-Iryani said the war will end if the group accepts to sign the truce.
"All this is happening while officials are trying to implement a new ceasefire deal," Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Sanaa, Yemen's capital, said.
"In a statement issued by the Houthis, they also accuse Saudis of attacks in many areas, firing more than 270 rockets and rounds of heavy artillery."
Discrimination alleged
The Houthis say their community of Shia Muslims from the Zaydi sect suffer discrimination and neglect and that the Yemeni government has allowed Sunni conservatives influenced by the Saudi religious establishment too strong a voice in the country.
Yemen has come under international pressure of late to end the conflict quickly and free up resources to confront a separate threat from an al-Qaeda offshoot that has set up operations there over the past year.
Last week, the Houthis accepted a conditional ceasefire first issued by the Saleh government in September.
The plan called on the Houthi fighters to disarm, free hostages and clear mountain hideouts.
However, the government dismissed the offer and said it would halt military operations against the fighters only "under a certain framework."
It also added a fresh demand that the fighters vow not to attack Saudi Arabia.
'Signature on deal'
Al-Iryani, the presidential adviser, said if Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the Houthis' leader, "signs this document and accepts its mechanisms, the war will stop immediately".
Our correspondent said: "All that is required of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi is to put his signature on the deal, but now the problem lies within the details of the ceasefire."
The peace proposal calls for the formation of five committees made up of Houthi and government representatives that would implement the ceasefire, al-Iryani said.
The committee on border security would also include Saudi officials.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia was drawn into the conflict in November after the Houthis crossed the border and killed two Saudi border guards.
At least 133 Saudi soldiers have died in the fighting.
Saudi connection
The fighters announced a unilateral ceasefire with Saudi Arabia in late January.
However, the Saudis responded cautiously to the group's announcement and demanded fighters pull back from border positions and return five missing soldiers.
Several earlier ceasefires quickly disintegrated, mainly because the Houthis said their demands were not addressed.
In what could deal a further blow to the peace process, a security court in Sanaa on Saturday sentenced Yahya al-Houthi, the brother of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, in abstentia to 15 years in prison on charges of supporting the uprising.
Yahya al-Houthi has been living in Germany for the past three years.
Source: Al Jazeera
Abdul-Karim al-Iryani, an adviser to Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said the peace deal issued on Saturday gives a "timetable" for a truce between the Houthis and the Yemeni government.
But heavy clashes between government forces and Houthi fighters continue to rock northern parts of Yemen.
Houthi fighters said they killed 23 Yemeni soldiers in two attacks on Saturday while the military said 11 Houthi fighters were killed in air attacks the same day.
Al-Iryani said the war will end if the group accepts to sign the truce.
"All this is happening while officials are trying to implement a new ceasefire deal," Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Sanaa, Yemen's capital, said.
"In a statement issued by the Houthis, they also accuse Saudis of attacks in many areas, firing more than 270 rockets and rounds of heavy artillery."
Discrimination alleged
The Houthis say their community of Shia Muslims from the Zaydi sect suffer discrimination and neglect and that the Yemeni government has allowed Sunni conservatives influenced by the Saudi religious establishment too strong a voice in the country.
Yemen has come under international pressure of late to end the conflict quickly and free up resources to confront a separate threat from an al-Qaeda offshoot that has set up operations there over the past year.
Last week, the Houthis accepted a conditional ceasefire first issued by the Saleh government in September.
The plan called on the Houthi fighters to disarm, free hostages and clear mountain hideouts.
However, the government dismissed the offer and said it would halt military operations against the fighters only "under a certain framework."
It also added a fresh demand that the fighters vow not to attack Saudi Arabia.
'Signature on deal'
Al-Iryani, the presidential adviser, said if Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the Houthis' leader, "signs this document and accepts its mechanisms, the war will stop immediately".
Our correspondent said: "All that is required of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi is to put his signature on the deal, but now the problem lies within the details of the ceasefire."
The peace proposal calls for the formation of five committees made up of Houthi and government representatives that would implement the ceasefire, al-Iryani said.
The committee on border security would also include Saudi officials.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia was drawn into the conflict in November after the Houthis crossed the border and killed two Saudi border guards.
At least 133 Saudi soldiers have died in the fighting.
Saudi connection
The fighters announced a unilateral ceasefire with Saudi Arabia in late January.
However, the Saudis responded cautiously to the group's announcement and demanded fighters pull back from border positions and return five missing soldiers.
Several earlier ceasefires quickly disintegrated, mainly because the Houthis said their demands were not addressed.
In what could deal a further blow to the peace process, a security court in Sanaa on Saturday sentenced Yahya al-Houthi, the brother of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, in abstentia to 15 years in prison on charges of supporting the uprising.
Yahya al-Houthi has been living in Germany for the past three years.
Source: Al Jazeera
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)