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19:19 GMT
WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (KUNA) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed that for the relaunched
Mideast peace negotiations to succeed, the talks must be kept private and
treated with the "utmost sensitivity," U.S. special Middle East envoy George
Mitchell said on Thursday.
"So what I and they are able to disclose to you today and in the future
will be limited," Mitchell said, following trilateral meetings with the two
Mideast leaders that included himself and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
After the trilateral session, Abbas and Netanyahu met alone at the U.S.
State Department for talks that lasted nearly three hours. The next session in
the negotiations was scheduled to take place in the Middle East in
mid-September. Mitchell said he and Clinton would attend that second round of
talks.
Mitchell described some of the key items that were addressed in the
trilateral meeting.
Netanyahu and Abbas "condemned all forms of violence that target innocent
civilians, and pledged to work together to maintain security," Mitchell said.
"They reiterated their common goal of two states for two peoples and to a
solution to the conflict that resolves all issues, ends all claims and
establishes a viable state of Palestine alongside a secure state of Israel,"
Mitchell said.
They also agreed that the negotiations can be completed within one year,
and that the aim of the talks is to resolve all core issues, he said.
The parties agreed that a logical next step would be to begin working on
achieving a framework agreement for permanent status, Mitchell said. The
purpose of such an agreement will be to establish "the fundamental compromises
necessary to enable them to flesh out and complete a comprehensive treaty that
will end the conflict and establish a lasting peace between Israel and the
Palestinians," he said.
"The parties agreed that in their actions and statements, they will work to
create an atmosphere of trust that will be conducive to reaching a final
agreement," Mitchell said. "They agreed to meet again on September 14 and 15
in the region and roughly every two weeks thereafter".
Continued interactions at other levels between the parties, and also others
involving the United States, will take place between those meetings, he said.
"In fact, a preparatory trilateral meeting to plan for that second meeting
in the region has already begun in another location in this building and will
continue here and in the region between now and September 14th as is necessary,
" he added.
The relationship between the two leaders "was cordial," Mitchell said, and
"it was a very constructive and positive mood, both in terms of their personal
interaction and in terms of the nature of the discussion that occurred". (end)
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