Relations Between The U.S. And Israel Take Another Turn For The Worse

U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, April 2009

US-Israel Meeting Scrapped Over Settlements -- AFP

JERUSALEM (AFP) — A meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US Middle East envoy was called off because of disagreements over settlement growth, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.

Officials close to Netanyahu said he had called off the meeting and denied an Israeli newspaper report that Washington had cancelled it over Israel's refusal to halt "natural growth" in the settlements.

"The decision to cancel the meeting ... was taken by the prime minister. We must be sure before such a meeting that professional work has been done on a series of issues," a senior Israeli official told AFP.

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My Comment: Why have a meeting when you cannot agree on what many observers in the region believe is the most important obstacle to peace. But for many Arabs in the Middle East, they will see this as another U.S. failure in reigning in Israel.