Asia-Pacific

US officials: Mideast talks may start soon

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-08-20 10:54
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WASHINGTON - The Obama administration said Thursday it is near to securing an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct peace talks, while some US officials said an announcement could be imminent.

US officials: Mideast talks may start soon
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks about the floods in Pakistan during a plenary meeting of the 64th General Assembly Session of the United Nations at the UN Headquarters in New York August 19, 2010. [Agencies]

The State Department said an agreement was "very, very close" but that details were still being worked out. Speaking privately administration officials familiar with the matter said an announcement could come as early as Friday or Saturday. Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the ongoing diplomacy.

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"We think we are very, very close to a decision by the parties to enter into direct negotiations," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters. "We think we're well positioned to get there."

To that end, he said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had called Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad late Wednesday and spoken Thursday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the special representative of the "Quartet" of Mideast peacemakers -- the US, the UN, the European Union and Russia.

Officials said tentative plans call for Israel, the Palestinians, the Quartet and the US to release separate but near simultaneous statements saying the stalled talks will resume early next month in either the US or Egypt. The US statement is expected to be issued in Clinton's name.

Crowley declined to comment on the arrangements but said that "if we reach the point we hope to arrive at ... we will demonstrate our support for the process and we will outline specifics of where we go from here."

In the region, Israeli and Palestinian officials refused to comment. They said they would react after an official announcement is made about the talks, and added that they did not have advance information about the content.