US Israel-Palestinian Coordinator Mulls Resignation

John Allen, the U.S. coordinator for security between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, is considering resigning over a "diplomatic standstill" in peace talks, Israeli daily Haaretz reported Tuesday.



Allen has been asked by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to visit Israel one last time – before making a final decision – to see if there was any chance of kick-starting stalled peace talks between the two sides, a senior Israeli official was "ed as saying by Haaretz.



The official said that Allen, during a visit to Israel last week, had heard statements from Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon "even more hawkish than [those heard] in the past."



Israel's offensive against the Gaza Strip, launched on July 7, left some 2,147 Gazans dead and 11,000 injured – the vast majority of them civilians – while partially or completely destroying thousands of residential structures across the territory.



The offensive, initially launched with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from Gaza, finally ended with the announcement on August 26 of an open-ended cease-fire.



According to Israeli figures, 67 Israeli soldiers and five civilians were killed over the course of the operation – the highest military death toll suffered by Israel since losing 119 troops in its 2006 war on Lebanon.



Netanyahu and Ya'alon, who reportedly urged Allen not to resign, asserted that negotiations should now focus on the Gaza Strip, the newspaper reported.



They wanted Palestinian Presidential Guard to go back to manning the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt – as it did before Israel imposed its years-long blockade on the territory.



Netanyahu and Ya'alon also wanted the Palestinian Authority to be involved in the reconstruction of the bombed-out Gaza Strip and the payment of salaries in the enclave.



They also insisted that the Israeli army "has to have freedom of action in the West Bank and not only along the Jordan River."



No comment has been issued by U.S. or Israeli officials on the newspaper's report.



U.S. special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations Martin Indyk resigned in June following the breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian talks in April after nine months of talks without progress.



He was temporarily replaced by U.S. diplomat Frank Lowenstein.



By Abdel-Raouf Arnaout



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Kudüs