Middle East peace within reach, says expert

“There is a sense that it is do-able, that Israeli-Palestinian peace is within reach, that we have never been closer, because the issues are so clear and the solutions are out there on the table and what we need is dedicated leadership to bring the two sides to an agreement”, says Gershon Bakin, co-founder of the Israeli Palestinian Centre for Research and Information. He adds that it is important that George Mitchell “takes charge”.
The US Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, meets with the Israeli Premier Netanyahu Monday, in an effort to mediate proximity talks between Israeli and Palestinian Leaders. The United States abandoned efforts to salvage direct talks in September, just three weeks after their launch, when Israel refused to renew curbs on settlement construction. Ahead of this latest round of meetings, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington wants Israel and the Palestinians to detail their positions on the major issues dividing them.
“Since the beginning of the Netanyahu government and the Obama administration I have always been an advocate of proximity talks”, comments Baskin. “My assessment is that Netanyahu and Abbas would find it difficult to communicate with each other, that the best way to advance the talks is shuttle diplomacy to get the two sides to come to concrete proposals”. Listen to Emer McCarthy’s full interview with Gershon Baskin: