Israel rejects US peace goal as illusion

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s special peace envoy yesterday sought an “early relaunch” of Israeli-Palestinian talks, but Israel said Washington’s goal of comprehensive peace was an illusion.

With wider Muslim-Jewish tension brewing over access to holy sites in Jerusalem, Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas struggling to restore his credibility and Islamist Hamas ascendant in the Gaza Strip, the omens for US envoy George Mitchell’s trip were not propitious.

“We are going to continue with our efforts to achieve an early relaunch of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians,” he told reporters as he met Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.