US envoy presses two-state option

George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, has told Palestinian officials that the US will vigorously pursue the creation of a Palestinian state.Mitchell is visiting the region in an effort to kickstart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process and was in Ramallah in the West Bank on Friday.He met Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and a delegation of senior figures from Fatah, a Palestinian faction at odds with Hamas.He met Israeli leaders a day earlier and was told that Israel's new government is insisting that the Palestinians recognise Israel before any two-state solution can be reached.Fatah leaders told reporters that Friday's meeting was meant to discuss ongoing efforts to reach national reconciliation and to gauge opinion on how the peace process should move forward.Qadura Fares, a spokesperson of the Fatah delegation, said officials told Mitchell that it would not be enough for the US to pressure the Israeli government to accept the two-state solution.A two-state solution would see Israel and Palestine existing as two separate states.