WEST BANK: Israeli lethal raid at sea diverts talks, as U.S. envoy George Mitchell meets with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas

Record ID: 559997

  • Title: WEST BANK: Israeli lethal raid at sea diverts talks, as U.S. envoy George Mitchell meets with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas
  • Date: 3rd June 2010
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (JUNE 2, 2010) (REUTERS) CONVOY ARRIVING AT PALESTINIAN PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND PALESTINIAN FLAG U.S MIDDLE EAST ENVOY GEORGE MITCHELL COMING OUT OF CAR, WAVING, BEING GREETED BY CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR SAEB EREKAT OFFICIALS ENTERING BUILDING VARIOUS OF MITCHELL SITTING NEXT TO PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS (3 SHOTS) OFFICIALS GOING OUT OF BUILDING MITCHELL WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR SAEB EREKAT SAYING: "In tonight's meeting, President Abbas raised a few issues with Senator George Mitchell. Number one - that we need a credible international investigation commission concerning the Israeli attack and aggression against the freedom convoy, the flotilla ships that took place in international water." CAMERA OPERATOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR SAEB EREKAT SAYING: "The siege has been imposed on 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, which is the President's responsibility, our responsibility since 2003. And we believe that the movement of individuals, the movement of goods, the movement of vehicles in and outside Gaza must be provided for with the break of this siege and that was very serious demand from the President because the current pattern of things cannot be maintained." MORE OF COMPOUND AT DUSK
  • Embargoed: 18th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5YN2N0UE3O661NDC5Q51P4P7F
  • Story Text: Israel's lethal raid on a ship trying to break the Gaza blockade dominated the Palestinian president's talks with President Barack Obama's envoy on Wednesday (June 2), a Palestinian official said, indicating the incident had diverted the agenda of U.S.-mediated peace talks.
    During a two-hour meeting with Washington's Middle East envoy George Mitchell, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas demanded an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
    The Palestinians have previously said the Mitchell-mediated indirect talks, which got underway last month, would focus on the issues of security and the borders of a state the Palestinians hope to found on land currently occupied by Israel.
    But Erekat made no mention of either issue in his remarks to reporters after Abbas's meeting with Mitchell on Wednesday.
    Instead, he said Abbas had demanded an international inquiry into Monday's raid which resulted in the deaths of nine activists on a Turkish-flagged boat. He also called for an end to the blockade of the Hamas-run territory.
    "In tonight's meeting, President Abbas raised a few issues with Senator George Mitchell. Number one - that we need a credible international investigation commission concerning the Israeli attack and aggression against the freedom convoy, the flotilla ships that took place in international water," Erekat said.
    "The siege has been imposed on 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, which is the President's responsibility, our responsibility since 2003. And we believe that the movement of individuals, the movement of goods, the movement of vehicles in and outside Gaza must be provided for with the break of this siege and that was very serious demand from the President because the current pattern of things cannot be maintained," he said. As usual, Mitchell made no comment after the meeting.
    Abbas is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on June 9.
    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to meet Obama this week in Washington but the meeting was postponed after Netanyahu curtailed his trip following the incident.
    Reviving the two-decade old Middle East peace process has been one of Obama's foreign policy priorities, but expectations that Mitchell's indirect negotiations will achieve a breakthrough are low.
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