Special envoy Mitchell to meet with Israeli PM

President Barack Obama is sending special Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

They will discuss the Middle East process between Israel and the Palestinians. Netanyahu recently said that he supports Palestinian statehood but with many conditions including demilitarization of the new state.

The Palestinians rejected Netanyahu's caveats, but the Obama administration has said that it seemed like a good start. The Israeli prime minister though has rejected Obama's call for a complete freeze on settlement expansion including that coming from natural population growth in existing settlements.

Times Online

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