Proche-Orient : Barack Obama relance les négociations
LE TEMPS: Le président américain rencontrera le Premier ministre israélien, Benjamin Netanyahu, et le dirigeant palestinien, Mahmoud Abbas, mardi à New York pour «préparer le terrain à une relance des négociations» au Proche-Orient. La rencontre suit de près l’échec d’une mission de l’emissaire américain dans la région

Le président américain, Barack Obama, rencontrera le Premier ministre israélien, Benjamin Netanyahu, et le dirigeant palestinien, Mahmoud Abbas, mardi à New York pour «préparer le terrain à une relance des négociations» au Proche-Orient, a annoncé samedi la Maison Blanche.

Ce sommet tripartite sera «immédiatement précédé» de rencontres bilatérales entre M. Obama et chacun des deux responsables avant l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies, a précisé la présidence américaine dans un communiqué.

Les trois dirigeants tenteront de «préparer le terrain pour une reprise des négociations et créer un contexte favorable qui permette le succès de ces négociations», indique le communiqué, alors que l’émissaire spécial américain pour le Proche-Orient, George Mitchell, est rentré bredouille vendredi d’une mission de quatre jours dans la région. >>> AFP | Dimanche 20 Septembre 2009

U.S. Sources: Many Arab States 'Pledging' Normal Israel Ties
HAARETZ: U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell has managed to obtain "pledges" from many Arab states for various steps toward normalization with Israel, some more significant and some less so, senior U.S. government officials told Haaretz on Sunday.

That is one of the main questions to which Israel is hoping to receive an answer when Mitchell arrives later this week or early next: what steps toward normalization the Arab states have agreed to take in exchange for a partial freeze in West Bank settlements.

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office, the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry all said that Israel still does not have a clear picture of what quid pro quos Mitchell has managed to obtain in his talks with these states.

The U.S. officials also declined to specify which states had made these pledges. Saudi Arabia, which Washington had hoped would be one of them, has thus far refused to offer anything to Israel, though it has agreed to provide the Palestinian Authority with hundreds of millions of dollars to shore up its shaky financial situation.

"We've done our part," an associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's said on Sunday. "We decided to make an effort to facilitate the diplomatic process, but now we want to see that we will also get something in exchange."

According to the U.S. officials, some Arab states have agreed to let Israel open offices in their territory, others have agreed to grant visas to Israeli businessmen and tourists, and still others have offered to allow direct telephone connections between Israel and their countries. >>> Barak Ravid | Monday, September 09, 2009