JERUSALEM (AP) — Washington’s Middle East envoy faces a new obstacle in his latest attempt to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks: Israel wants to maintain troops on the West Bank’s border with Jordan even if a deal is reached.
Palestinians have rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand, made just before U.S. envoy George Mitchell arrived in the region.
Netanyahu said an Israeli presence on the eastern side of a “prospective” Palestinian state would be necessary to keep militants from launching rockets at Israel’s heartland.
On Thursday, Saeb Erekat, a confidant of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the demand “absolutely unacceptable.”
Mitchell will meet Israeli officials Thursday and with Palestinian officials on Friday.
