Obama + Clinton relaunch Israeli-Palestinian "direct talks" after 20-month suspension

DOES THIS NEW YORK TIMES PHOTO SAY IT ALL?

NETANYAHU CALLS ON PALESTINIANS TO RECOGNIZE ISRAEL AS "THE NATION STATE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE"

At the official launch of direct peace talks at the White House on Thursday (2 September), according to a report in Haaretz, "Netanyahu explained, addressing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas directly, that just as 'you expect us to recognize a Palestinian state as the nation state of the Palestinian people, we expect you to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people ... Mutual recognition between us is indispensible to clarifying to our people that the conflict between us is over ... I respect your people's desire for sovereignty and I'm convinced its possible to reconcile that desire with Israel's needs for security". These remarks of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu are posted here.

This is the time for the Palestinians to ask for guarantees to prevent what they say they fear as a result - more ethnic cleansing.

A day earlier, on Wednesday (1 September), with Obama + Abbas at White House, Netanyahu said: "The Jewish people are no strangers in our homeland, the land of our forefathers ... But we recognize that another people share this land with us. And I came here today to find a historic compromise that will enable both peoples to live in peace, security and dignity ... President Abbas, we cannot erase the past, but it is within our power to change the future. Thousands of years ago, on the very hills where Israelis and Palestinians live today, the Jewish prophet Isaiah and the other prophets of my people envisioned a lasting peace for all mankind." This is published here .

ANNAPOLIS bis

Netanyahu and Abbas have agreed to meet again, here in the region [apparently, in Sharm ash-Sheikh], on 14-15 September [after Ramadan and the three-day Eid, as well as after the Jewish Rosh Hashona or New Year but before Yom Kippur] - and biweekly from then on.

However, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has reportedly warned in the Washington meetings that all bets will be off, and the talks will not continue, if the Israeli settlement freeze is not maintained after its 26 September expiry date...

WHAT's NEW - A FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT?

This is a phrase we've heard before, mainly from published reports based on privileged leaks given to cooperative or valuable journalists by previous and present negotiators. In public remarks to the attending press corps yesterday in Washington, the U.S. Special Envoy for this process, George Mitchell, announced to journalists that "The parties agreed that a logical next step would be to begin working on achieving a framework agreement for permanent status. The purpose of a framework 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 ... As both President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have said, the United States pledges its full support to the parties in these talks. We will be an active and sustained partner throughout. We will put our full weight behind these negotiations and will stand by the parties as they make the difficult decisions necessary to secure a better future for their citizens".

In response to a question from a journalist, Mitchell added that "Our goal is to resolve all of the frame - all of the core issues within one year. And the parties themselves have suggested and agreed that the logical way to proceed, to tackle them is to try to reach a framework agreement first. And as I said - and I think this ought to be made clear because there has been a good bit of misunderstanding or not a full meeting of minds publicly regarding a framework agreement - a framework agreement is not an interim agreement. It's more detailed than a declaration of principles, but is less than a full-fledged treaty".

Mitchell said that some of the meetings that were held in Washington on Thursday were "trilateral" meetings -- involving Israel, the Palestinian leader, and American officials.