Sides to Pursue Mideast Peace Despite Olmert Move

Dan Williams and Susan Cornwell (Reuters)

July 31, 2008

Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged on Wednesday to keep trying to achieve a peace accord by a U.S.-set deadline of year’s end despite Israeli Prime Minister’s Ehud Olmert’s decision to step down. …

"We decided today that we are going to continue pursuing to reach an agreement before the end of the year," Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei, said after the talks with Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the front-runner to succeed Olmert.

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Determined to Reach a Common Objective

“We knew at the outset that the task would be difficult. We acknowledged that publicly and privately. We knew this would be a road with many bumps— and there have been many bumps—and that continues to this day. But we are not deterred. We are, to the contrary, determined more than ever to proceed to realize the common objective, which we all share, of a Middle East that is at peace with security and prosperity for the people of Israel, for Palestinians, and for all the people in the region. We will continue our efforts in that regard, undeterred and undaunted by the difficulties, the complexities or the bumps in the road.”—George Mitchell, special envoy for Middle East peace, remarks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, September 29, 2010

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