WEST BANK: U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Record ID: 560241

  • Title: WEST BANK: U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
  • Date: 19th June 2010
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (JUNE 18, 2010) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN FLAGS AT PALESTINIAN PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND PALESTINIAN FLAG U.S. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY GEORGE MITCHELL STANDING NEXT TO CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR SAEB EREKAT, WAVING AT JOURNALISTS AND ENTERING BUILDING MITCHELL SITTING NEXT TO PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS MORE OF MITCHELL MITCHELL AND ABBAS SHAKING HANDS OFFICIALS SITTING MITCHELL SHAKING HANDS WITH EREKAT OUTSIDE BUILDING, WAVING AND WALKING TOWARDS CAR PALESTINIAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR SAEB EREKAT, SAYING: "Today's meeting President Abbas with Senator Mitchell...the discussion focused on lifting the siege imposed by the Israeli on Gaza. The president demanded that the siege be totally lifted, completely lifted, that 100 percent of the food needs, medical needs, fuel needs, building material needs of Gaza Strip, get to Gaza. And either we have a siege or we don't have a siege, there is no middle grounds for this." PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAEVI9MFXG9RPX4CZSS58JN4NMD
  • Story Text: U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell met on Friday (June 18) with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as part of ongoing indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
    Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the meeting focused on the Israeli imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip and that Abbas demanded its complete lifting.
    "Today's meeting President Abbas with Senator Mitchell...the discussion focused on lifting the siege imposed by the Israeli on Gaza. The president demanded that the siege be totally lifted, completely lifted, that 100 percent of the food needs, medical needs, fuel needs, building material needs of Gaza Strip, get to Gaza. And either we have a siege or we don't have a siege, there is no middle grounds for this," Erekat told journalists after the meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
    The U.S envoy, who is charged with mediating the indirect talks, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem on Thursday (June 17). He called for restraint from all sides in the region thus enabling the proximity talks to develop into direct negotiations later in the year.
    Israel's security cabinet decided on Thursday to ease the Gaza land blockade following an international outcry over a deadly raid on an aid flotilla.
    It was agreed to liberalise the system by which civilian goods enter Gaza and expand the inflow of materials for civilian projects that are under international supervision, an official statement said, without specifying any product list.
    Israel faced mounting international calls to ease or lift its Gaza embargo following the killing by Israeli commandos of nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists during the interception at sea of an an aid convoy on May 31.
    Israeli leaders said the troops acted in self-defence after being swarmed by activists who attacked them, and that the blockade on Gaza is necessary to prevent arms smuggling to Hamas.
    Israel imposed the blockade soon after Hamas, which has rejected Western calls to recognise its right to exist, won a Palestinian legislative election in 2006. Restrictions were tightened after Hamas seized power in Gaza the following year.
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