President Obama holds a news briefing in Washington ahead of Mid-East talks
US President Barack Obama has condemned the “senseless slaughter” of four Israeli settlers, as a new round of Middle-East talks opens in Washington.
Obama condemns W Bank ‘slaughter’
Mr Obama spoke after meeting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, on the eve of the first direct talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in 20 months.
He later met Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and said progress was being made.
Mr Netanyahu said Tuesday’s killings in the West Bank were committed by people who “butcher everything they oppose”.
US, Israeli and Palestinian officials have all said they will not allow the shootings of the four Israelis to derail the new momentum in the long-stalled Middle East peace process.
But disagreement over Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank has also threatened to cast a pall over the talks.
The Israelis have said they will not renew a partial freeze on building homes for Jews there when it expires towards the end of this month, but the Palestinians say that without a freeze they will walk away from the talks.
In his meeting with Mr Obama, the Israeli prime minister told the president that any eventual agreement with the Palestinians must include security arrangements that put an end to terrorist threats against Israelis, an Israeli official travelling with Mr Netanyahu said.
Shortly after the two leaders spoke, two Israelis were injured in another shooting in the West Bank.
Gunmen opened fire on their car at Rimonim Junction, near the Jewish settlement of Kochav Hashahar and east of the city of Ramallah.
The victims were a woman and a man, who was in a serious condition in hospital, officials said.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld blamed Palestinian militants for the attack.
Meanwhile, Palestinian security forces have mounted a huge operation in the West Bank to catch the killers of the four Israeli settlers shot on Tuesday near Hebron.
Analysis
President Barack Obama has to rescue the talks before they have even properly started.
The Israelis say they will not renew a partial freeze on building homes for Jews in the occupied West Bank when it expires at the end of this month. The Palestinians say that without a freeze they will walk away.
If that hurdle is cleared, three big issues will top their agenda.
First, Jerusalem. Both sides want a capital there.
Second, they need to agree the borders of an independent Palestine.
Third, the future of Palestinian refugees – people whose families fled or were driven out of what became Israel in 1948.
Even if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do manage to agree, both men would face serious domestic opposition to the necessary compromises.
Mr Netanyahu would have to take on the Jewish settlers, whose political representatives make up the spine of his own government.
President Abbas presides over one wing of a deeply-split Palestinian national movement – the other wing, Hamas, is against the talks.
Dozens of members of the Islamist movement Hamas, whose armed wing said it carried out the attack, have been arrested.
Israeli forces have also moved to seal off sections of the West Bank to search villages near Hebron.
A statement from Hamas members of the Palestinian parliament accused Mr Abbas of “siding with the Zionist enemy and continuing its project to abort and uproot the resistance”.
Speaking after his talks with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Obama promised continued US support for Israel’s security.
“I want everybody to be very clear,” he said. “The United States is going to be unwavering in its support of Israel’s security. And we are going to push back against these kinds of terrorist attacks.
“And so the message should go out to Hamas and everyone else who is taking credit for these heinous crimes that this is not going to stop us.”
Mr Netanyahu said his talks with Mr Obama had been productive.
“I think that the president’s statement is an expression of our desire to fight against this terror and the talks that we had, which were indeed open, productive, serious in the quest for peace,” he said.
Mr Obama is taking turns on Wednesday to meet the Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian leaders before they all gather for a dinner at the White House.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to hold discussions with the Israelis’ and Palestinians’ negotiating teams.
Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas are to then meet for the first face-to-face talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders since late 2008.
US officials said they wanted to at least get agreement from the two sides to meet again, possibly in the second week of September. Another meeting between Mr Obama, Mr Abbas and Mr Netanyahu could be held during the UN General Assembly at the end of the month.
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