Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


US to Lead New Round of Middle East Peace Talks

   VOA News 07 January 2010

   A U.S. official has announced a new round of high-level talks aimed at
   restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
   State  Department  spokesman  P.J.  Crowley  says  Secretary  of State
   Hillary  Clinton  will  meet  in  Washington  Friday  with the foreign
   ministers of Jordan and Egypt.
   Crowley  says  U.S.  Middle  East  envoy  George  Mitchell  also  will
   participate in those talks.
   Crowley  says  Mitchell then will leave Sunday for Paris and Brussels,
   for  discussions  with  non-Arab  allies and with other members of the
   so-called International Quartet on Middle East Peace.
   Israeli-Palestinian  peace  talks  have been stalled in recent months,
   partly because of the dispute about Israeli settlement construction in
   the West Bank.
   The quartet has urged Israel to stop all settlement building.  It also
   has  called  on  Palestinian leaders to fight violent extremism and to
   "end incitement."
   The  Middle  East  quartet  consists of the United States, Russia, the
   European Union and the United Nations.
   In  November,  Israeli  Prime  Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a
   partial  freeze  on settlement construction, in a bid to restart peace
   talks  with  the  Palestinians.   The  freeze  does  not apply to East
   Jerusalem,  which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future
   state.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

.