BEIRUT — US Mideast envoy George Mitchell met with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman on Wednesday and reiterated Washington's commitment to the stalled Middle East peace process and Lebanon's independence.
"Senator Mitchell conveyed the commitment of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to comprehensive peace in the Middle East, which includes peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon and the full normalisation of relations between Israel and the Arab states," the US embassy in Lebanon said in a statement.
It added that the US envoy in his meeting with Prime Minister Hariri late Tuesday confirmed that Washington would not support the full naturalisation as Lebanese citizens of an estimated 250,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon.
"Senator Mitchell reiterated that Lebanon would play a key role in the long-term effort to build lasting and comprehensive peace and stability in the Middle East region and that there would not be a lasting solution reached at Lebanon's expense," the statement said.
Mitchell was headed to Damascus following his meeting with Sleiman and was also due to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Mitchell's latest Mideast tour comes less than a week after US President Barack Obama's national security adviser James Jones held talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders aimed at furthering US-led peace efforts.
Obama has been struggling to get the two sides back to the negotiating table since he assumed office nearly a year ago but has thus far failed to get Israel to completely halt settlements or secure Arab concessions to the Jewish state.
The Palestinians have said they will not resume talks -- suspended a year ago during Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza -- until Israel halts all settlement building in the occupied territories.
Israel has declared a 10-month moratorium on new settlement projects but has excluded mostly Arab east Jerusalem, public buildings and projects already under way. The Palestinians have rejected the move as insufficient.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reservedNote to Israel: Be polite, but be sure to ignore any further demands from Obama's envoys, diplomats, Clinton, Jones, and Mitchell. You can see today that these folks are not accepted by Americans, nor do they speak for America! And, since the Palestinians have clearly said they will not resume talks with "Israel", this should not be too difficult a task to handle until America cleans up her own back yard i.e. White House and Congress! BeeSting
