by Christi Parsons
Palestinian and Israeli leaders will sit down with President Obama on Tuesday while in New York for a meeting of the United Nations, a three-way meeting that the administration has been trying to broker for weeks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to a three-way meeting with the U.S. president, Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs announced this afternoon in a written statement. Each leader will also meeti separately with Obama, according to the bulletin.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the scheduling of the meetings portended a full-scale resumption of Middle East peace negotiations. White House officials had avoided publicly laying out specific requirements for their participation in a trilateral meeting.
But in recent days, National Security Council sources have said they didn't want a "meeting for meeting's sake," and instead would insist on entering talks with some promise of progress.
For the administration to count the meetings as a success, the parties will have to emerge from them with plausible signs that negotiations are moving forward.
The written statement from the White House hit an optimistic note that that will happen.
"These meetings will continue the efforts of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Special Envoy George Mitchell to lay the groundwork for the relaunch of negotiations, and to create a positive context for those negotiations so that they can succeed," Gibbs wrote.
Today's announcement follows weeks of talks among the Palestinian and Israeli leaders with Mitchell, Obama's special Middle East envoy dispatched to get negotiations going again.
"It is another sign of the president's deep commitment to comprehensive peace that he wants to personally engage at this juncture, as we continue our efforts to encourage all sides to take responsibility for peace and to create a positive context for the resumption of negotiations," Mitchell said in the statement.
Comments
bet oBama kin not shoot ta squirrels lik I kin, and you aint no Preznient if you cant shoot a goll dang squirell like me and Gorge W BuSh kin.
W. was the bestes Prisdent we evah had!
Posted by: Bubba Alabama in Tebag, Texas | September 19, 2009 7:54 PM
Tebag, Texas?
Have you ever spent the weekend in Shebang, S. Carolina?
Posted by: ornery | September 19, 2009 8:44 PM
I've noticed that since Pres Obama replaced Shrub Jr and The Dick Cheney, the International community has a much higher opinion of us as a country again. Gee, I wonder why?!?!
I laugh everytime I hear Wingnuts crying about Obama apologizing for our behavior during the Bush reign of terror, but in a way they're right. Obama shouldn't be the one doing the apologizing, we should round up W., Darth, Rummy KKKarl Rove, Boehner, McConnell, Cantor etc etc, tie them up, and drag them all over the globe on an International: "We F'd Up, We're Sorry and We're an Embarrassment to our Country and the rest of the World" tour. After that, Pres Obama can appoint a "Teabagger Czar" to watch over them - that would really blow what's left of Glenn Beckk's mind.
TeaBag Party Bill of Rights
+ We don't pay no stinkin' taxes...but it makes us mad when billionaires have to
+ Protect the ultra rich from taxes
+ Don't give my Red State healthcare, or we'll secede
+ Obama is a racist -- but I'm not
+ El Rushbo is only joking ... don't be so serious
+ Did I mention where we fight to the end to protect the interests of the top richest - richy richest to be even richer?
+ Fighting for the working man. (ha ha ha, yea right!)
Posted by: I wanna be a Republican idiot | September 20, 2009 3:17 AM
Good luck, Obama, it may be tough.
Netanyahu seems not to see that more settlements and not making peace may be more harmful to Israel's security. Abbas seems unlikely to keep a lid on the West Bank violence that hinders chances of a Palestinian State. And can either agree to dividing Jerusalem into an Israeli West Side and Palestinian East Side, with the old city and adjacent religious sites a UN-ruled international zone?
Posted by: KAG | September 20, 2009 9:58 AM
That will be like Christ flanked by 2 thiefs.
Posted by: ornery | September 20, 2009 10:24 PM
Reconciliation and constant efforts towards it is very essential if we want long lasting peace.This is what Obama is doing.What else could one do other than bringing the parties in dispute in talk and being there as a friend to both.
Posted by: Don@mastercareprotectionandcleaning | September 21, 2009 9:00 AM
Well, what will this conclude then??? I hope it will be something positive and constructive for our country as well. They had way to many scams taking place and violating the law to the umphf extent...they need to stop this financial assistance.
Posted by: lucie lanes | September 21, 2009 5:10 PM