WEST BANK: U.S. National Security Adviser Jim Jones meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Record ID: 560136

  • Title: WEST BANK: U.S. National Security Adviser Jim Jones meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
  • Date: 15th January 2010
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (JANUARY 14, 2010) (REUTERS) U.S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER JIM JONES' CONVOY ARRIVING AT PALESTINIAN PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND JONES SHAKING HANDS WITH PALESTINIAN CHIEF NEGOTIATOR SAEB EREKAT CAMERA OPERATOR JONES AND PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS WALKING INTO COMPOUND PALESTINIAN FLAG VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS SITTING WITH JONES (5 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 30th January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7CE7F07AVAWVJT6V60TLI2TOH
  • Story Text: United States National Security Adviser Jim Jones met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday (January 14) as part of Washington's bid to relaunch peace talks.
    The two met in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Abbas has said earlier this week that he will resist U.S. pressure to resume peace talks unless Israel first fully halts settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
    Abbas's remarks in an interview with Egypt's Voice of the Arabs radio appeared to pour cold water on a renewed U.S. effort to broker a resumption of negotiations stalled for more than a year.
    Abbas says a partial, 10-month freeze announced by Israel in November is insufficient.
    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this month urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume negotiations straight away and to focus immediately on borders and Jerusalem, suggesting this could break the deadlock over settlements.
    Obama disappointed Abbas last year when he softened his demand for a settlement building freeze, instead calling on Israel to exercise restraint in construction in the lands it captured in a 1967 Middle East war.
    Earlier on Thursday, Jones held closed meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is expected to meet Israeli President Shimon Peres later in the day.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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