By Zhang Yanyang, Deng Yushan
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday for a fresh bid to push forward the stalemated Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
In light of the distinct overtures recently made by the Jewish state and the United States on the Mideast peace, Mitchell's trip is widely expected to be a start of potential turbulence between the two allies.
During a visit to Turkey earlier this month, which was aimed at rebuilding the strained ties with the Muslim world, US President Barack Obama stressed that his administration is determined to help reach a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting in peace and security.
However, to the two-state principle, new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not even paid any lip service. While repeatedly pledging to continue peace talks with the Palestinians, he has argued that efforts should be concentrated first on developing the Palestinian economy rather than on key political and territorial issues.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu's top diplomat, Avigdor Lieberman, stressed on his first day in office that the only document binding on Israel is the "road map" peace plan, a blueprint proposed in 2003 by the Middle East Quartet of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
The new foreign minister also confirmed that the Netanyahu administration had withdrawn itself from the previous government's commitment to negotiating on borders, the status of Jerusalem and other key issues.
He stressed that talks on such topics would be conducted only after the two sides fulfill their obligations required by the " road map", which implies that the Palestinian side would have to stop attacks on Israel before any negotiations on the final shape of its statehood would take place.
Against such a backdrop, Mitchell returned to the area. While his previous visit earlier this year was on a listening mode, the upcoming trip would probably see him speak. Yet what he is likely to bring out is not necessarily what his hosts are ready to take in.
"We certainly have some disagreements, and we might see some in the coming months," Rafi Mann, an Israeli political analyst, told Xinhua on Tuesday.
Some pressure from the Obama administration would be inevitable, echoed Gershon Baskin, founder of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, adding that the US would probably start with the settlement issue.
"I think that the Americans will piggyback on the statement that Lieberman made regarding Israel's commitment to the road map, which implies its willingness to stop all settlement building," Baskin added.
