JERUSALEM — Seeking to calm a public spat with Israel, U.S. envoy George Mitchell assured its leaders Tuesday that American support for the Jewish state is “unshakable.” But he said the Obama administration stands by a goal the Israeli government has yet to embrace: an independent Palestinian state.
Mitchell is visiting Israel and the West Bank to build on President Barack Obama’s commitment, spelled out last week in an address to the Muslim world, to work aggressively to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mitchell will go this week to Lebanon and Syria, his first visit to them as special Middle East envoy, to try to win Arab support for the initiative and to encourage peace talks between Syria and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been sharply at odds with the Obama administration in recent weeks over its insistence on halting Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank.
Obama and Netanyahu spoke by telephone Monday night. The White House said the president repeated points from his address last week, “including his commitment to Israel’s security.”
Mitchell emphasized the U.S.-Israeli bond in remarks to reporters Tuesday.
“We come here to talk not as adversaries and in disagreement, but as friends in discussion,” Mitchell said, standing at Netanyahu’s side before an evening meeting that lasted four hours.
There was no official comment by either side on the substance of the talks.
