Israel's next leader sat face-to-face Thursday with a man whose vision of Israeli-Palestinian relations is radically different from his own: the Obama administration's new Middle East envoy.
Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu says negotiations on Palestinian statehood are pointless. But envoy George J. Mitchell wants Israel to resume negotiations to establish a Palestinian state.
This is Mitchell's second Middle East visit since President Obama took office last month. Next week, Hillary Rodham Clinton will make her first trip to the region as secretary of state.
The attention follows Obama's promise to make peace in the Middle East a priority.
Thursday's meeting was "positive and productive," Netanyahu said, and the two still "have a lot to talk about." Mitchell made no statement. He promised a vigorous push for Israeli-Palestinian peace on his first visit but offered no public glimpse into how the administration planned to do it. Mitchell was not expected to do so this time either, a U.S. official said.
Mitchell's visit comes amid ongoing talks on the region's future -- on a Gaza cease-fire, Gaza reconstruction and Palestinian reconciliation.
Egyptian officials have been trying to mediate a long-term truce between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip, to replace a fragile cease-fire that ended Israel's three-week offensive in the territory last month.
The two rival Palestinian groups, Hamas and the Western-backed Fatah movement that controls the West Bank, are meeting this week for Egyptian-mediated talks on reconciliation.
And dozens of countries will meet Monday in Egypt for a donors' conference to raise money for rebuilding Gaza after the Israeli offensive.
One of Mitchell's immediate goals is to shore up the Gaza cease-fire, which continues to be shaken by low-level violence.
On Thursday, Palestinian fighters fired two rockets at southern Israel, and Israel later sent aircraft to raid southern Gaza. Hamas said the aircraft targeted five smuggling tunnels. Palestinian medical officials said three people were wounded, one critically. No one was injured in the rocket attacks.
Mitchell is also expected to focus on the need to rebuild Gaza. The Palestinians hope to raise $2.8 billion at Monday's donor conference, where the United States is expected to pledge $900 million.
Mitchell and Netanyahu seem at odds on key underlying issues.
Mitchell wants to press ahead with peace talks that would lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu avoids any talk of Palestinian statehood and says peace efforts should focus on building up the Palestinian economy. Mitchell has urged a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank, while Netanyahu says existing settlements must be allowed to expand.
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