US wants progress report on Middle East peace deal

US wants progress report on Middle East peace deal

Peroshni Govender, Ramallah
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants a memorandum of understanding from Israel and the Palestinian Authority detailing progress both sides have made on the core issues towards a peace plan.

Rice wrapped up a two day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories yesterday. She met with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Rice wants the document to show the international community that negotiations are advancing. According to Israeli officials Rice is reported to have told them that even though both sides report progress, "the world doesn't believe it".

As no concrete document has yet emerged from the negotiations, combined with the lack of dramatic progress in improving the daily lives of Palestinian residents of the West Bank, it encourages disbelief, she argued, and this is liable to undermine the process.

Reach a compromise
She wants the document to outline the general principles being discussed and what both sides have already agreed on. The US sponsored and launched the Middle East Peace talks last November. Israel and the Palestine Authority are tasked with reaching a compromise on the decades' old conflict and seek solutions to the thorniest issues. These include the borders of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, the right of Palestinian refugees to return, the status of Jerusalem with East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state, Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, water and security.

Six months since the launch of the peace process -- both sides appear to have made little progress. Continued Israeli settlement activity; raids into the West Bank and attacks on Gaza have seen the Palestinian threaten to pull out. Palestinian militant activity -- have also disillusioned Israelis.

The US is pushing for a settlement before the end of this year. With US President George W Bush expected to arrive in Israel next week to attend the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Jewish state -- Rice is desperate to make a breakthrough.

But both Israel and the Palestinian Authority are reluctant to give a formal report back. This, despite the Israeli Prime Minister's spokesperson Mark Regev saying that yesterday's discussions between Olmert and Abbas were the "most significant" to date.