Israel, Palestinians must get serious on talks: U.S
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official said on Saturday Israel and the Palestinians must decide quickly on the form of agreement they will begin negotiating next week to achieve Palestinian statehood.
The official said the United States wants both sides to make progress in negotiations on final status issues and seal a deal by the end of 2008, a target date set by President George W. Bush at a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland last year.
"The sides have to fix on this pretty quickly, on what it is they're trying to work with. We want to make as much progress as we can within the time available," the U.S. official told reporters.
Israel and the Palestinians are at odds over the form of agreement they want to reach by the end of this year.
Israeli officials said they are seeking an agreement that would outline a "framework" for a future Palestinian state with implementation delayed until the Palestinians can ensure Israel's security.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants a final peace treaty to enable him to declare a Palestinian state by the end of 2008.
Palestinian officials say a "framework" agreement would require further detailed and lengthy talks on core "final status" issues such as the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, borders, and the removal of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
A senior Abbas aide told Reuters the Israeli idea for a deal means "we would not be declaring a state by the end of 2008. It is not what we want and it would undermine Abbas' peace efforts".
Bush said in his first presidential visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday: "I believe it's going to happen, that there will be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office."
He said he had urged both Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to make sure their teams negotiate seriously, starting right now".
Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said on Thursday Israel endorsed Bush's call for a rapid peace deal but made clear it does not see the final establishment of a Palestinian state this year.
Palestinian officials said they understood from Bush during talks in Ramallah that he would not settle for a "framework" agreement but were skeptical he would impose his vision on the Israelis.
The U.S. official said Bush had heard from both sides "they want to achieve this (a final deal) in the time available, I think President Bush came here determined to do it and he left here even more determined to do it."
He said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited Israel and the Palestinian areas eight times last year to restart negotiations deadlocked since the September 2000 Palestinian uprising against occupation, would be visiting this year at the same frequency, and was expected back soon.
"President Bush said for sure he'll back at least once but he may be back here more than once," he said.
The senior U.S. official said Washington has already begun the process of monitoring and judging the implementation of the sides' obligations under the road map as part of a peace process revived at Annapolis.
At Annapolis, Bush had announced the creation of a trilateral committee headed by the United States to track and assess the implementation of the road map commitments by Israel and the Palestinians.
The road map, which underpins Bush's renewed push for an agreement to create a Palestinian state, calls on Israel to halt all settlement activity and for the Palestinians to rein in militants.
(Writing by Wafa Amr; editing by Ori Lewis and Philippa Fletcher)
