Joe Biden goes to Middle East peace talks

Omaha News.Net
Monday 8th March, 2010

US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Monday to take part in a high-level peace conference.

Mr Biden will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories to help restart the stalled peace negotiations.

He is also scheduled to meet with Tony Blair, the envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, and will travel to Amman to meet with Jordan's King Abdullah.

With Washington stepping up efforts to get the Israeli-Palestinian peace process revived, special Middle East envoy George Mitchell has already been in Israel since Saturday.

Mitchell has said he is hoping for a constructive process that will accomplish comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

That process has already begun with a Sunday meeting between all representatives resulting in the Palestinians agreeing to begin indirect negotiations with Israel.

Israel also approved holding indirect talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was good to see negotiations getting under way, even in an indirect way, as it could lead to more substantive direct negotiations.

The US push for a restart of the talks became more urgent last week when there was a flare-up of violence caused when Israeli security forces clashed with Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Hebron.

The violence was brought on by Israel's recent decision to include two West Bank sites, holy to both Jews and Muslims, on the Israeli list of national heritage sites, meaning that Jewish settlements in the area could be protected.

Palestinian officials have said the success of the talks will depend on whether Israel will stop its settlement expansion, which is one of its long-held policies.

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