Israel opens second banned highway to Palestinians before Mitchell visit

"I will never trust the Palestinians who live in the nearby villages. I know not all of them are evil, but even they don’t know who's living among them. The facts are very simple – once they fenced off the road they couldn’t kill Jews. Once they get the opportunity, they'll do it again."

Such mistrust underlies Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hesitancy to make concessions in attempting to resume peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell, during a visit to the region next week, is expected to present a new draft for resuming talks, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

"Everyone wants to make sure it looks like the ball is in the other guy's court," says Mark Heller, an analyst on the Middle East conflict at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. In that way, he says, Netanyahu will be able to tell Barack Obama, who has made the peace process a foreign policy priority, that he's made as many overtures as he can without endangering the stability of his own government.

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