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A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 9 March 2017
Johnson: 10 years gone: No word of ex-

Britain still backs 2-state solution in Mideast FBI man lost in Iran on CIA job

KARIN LAUB Bank, Gaza Strip and east Johnson met with Netan-
Associated Press Jerusalem, lands Israel yahu later on Wednesday, JON GAMBRELL
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) captured in the 1967 Mid- after holding talks with Ab- Associated Press
— Britain’s foreign minister east war. bas. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Ten years after a
said on Wednesday that Israelis and Palestinians He insisted his government former FBI agent working on an unauthorized CIA mis-
his country remains “abso- have not held meaningful is one of the “firm, strong sion disappeared in Iran, his family hopes U.S. President
lutely” committed to a two- talks since gaps widened supporters, rock-like sup- Donald Trump will do something America’s last two
state solution to the Israeli- with the 2009 election of porters of Israel.” presidents have been unable to achieve: Finally bring
Palestinian conflict and hard-liner Netanyahu. The “I should remind you that him home.
that obstacles to a deal, in- Palestinian political split the policy of our govern- Robert Levinson’s family told The Associated Press this
cluding accelerated Israeli between Western-backed ment is for a two-state so- week that Trump’s background as a deal-making busi-
settlement building, must President Mahmoud Ab- lution ... Israel has first and nessman and his harder line on Iran could be an asset
in finally determining what happened to the investiga-
tor, whose 69th birthday is Friday.
They described the heartbreak of seeing other Ameri-
can prisoners in Iran freed while the mystery surround-
ing his disappearance remains. They also acknowl-
edged the challenge of keeping his case in the public
eye, as he now has been held captive longer than any
American in history, if he remains alive.
“We believe people can survive 10 years under any
circumstances. In the worst places, people survive. We
know Bob is alive,” his wife, Christine Levinson, told the
AP. “Everyone else has gotten out of Iran, but Bob has
been left behind every single time. It’s now time for him
to be returned home to his family.”
Levinson disappeared from Iran’s Kish Island on March
9, 2007. For years, U.S. officials would only say that Levin-
son, a meticulous FBI investigator credited with busting
Russian and Italian mobsters, was working for a private
firm on his trip.
In December 2013, the AP revealed Levinson in fact
had been on a mission for CIA analysts who had no
authority to run spy operations. Levinson’s family had
received a $2.5 million annuity from the CIA in order
to stop a lawsuit revealing details of his work, while the
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, shakes hands with Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris
Johnson during their meeting, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, March 8, 2017. agency forced out three veteran analysts and disci-
(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) plined seven others.
Since his disappearance, the only photos and video
be removed. bas and his Islamic mili- foremost and absolute right of Levinson emerged in 2010 and 2011. He appeared
Boris Johnson said he be- tant Hamas rivals has also to live in security and the gaunt and bearded with long hair, and was wearing
lieves it’s still possible to harmed diplomatic efforts. people of Israel deserve to an orange jumpsuit similar to those worn by detainees
set up a state of Palestine Standing next to Malki on be safe from terrorism and at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay.
alongside Israel and that a podium, near a “State that’s our absolute priority,” The video, with a Pashtun wedding song popular in Af-
the leadership change in of Palestine” seal, John- Johnson said. ghanistan playing in the background, showed Levinson
Washington might offer an son said that “the policy of “We must also try to re- complaining of poor health. Levinson’s family believes
opportunity. our government in the UK move obstacles to peace his diabetes and high blood pressure could be under
“There is a willingness to is absolutely unchanged, and progress such as the control with his weight loss.
look at things with fresh we remain committed to a settlements.” “I’m not as worried about his health,” his son, Dan
eyes,” Johnson said after two-state solution, to that Netanyahu reiterated his Levinson, said. “I understand people thinking it being
meeting with Palestinian vision for the resolution of position on the conflict. over 10 years and fearing the worst, but we don’t be-
Foreign Minister Riad Malki this conflict.” “The reason we haven’t lieve that.”
in the city of Ramallah, the “I really think it is possible,” had peace here for a hun- The FBI now offers a $5 million reward for information
base of the Palestinian au- Johnson said. “We must not dred years is not the settle- leading to Levinson’s safe recovery and return.
tonomy government in the abandon that prospect.” ments but the persistent re- Rumors have circulated for years, with one account
Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel’s ongoing expansion fusal to recognize a nation claiming he was locked up in a Tehran prison run by
President Donald Trump, of Jewish settlement on state for the Jewish people Iran’s paramilitary Revolution Guard and U.S. officials
in a break from his prede- war-won lands has led to in any boundary. suggesting he may not be in Iran at all. Dawud Sala-
cessors, has given mixed growing skepticism about I think if you want to solve huddin, an American fugitive living in Iran who is want-
signals about whether the whether a two-state deal the problem you go to the ed for the assassination of a former Iranian diplomat in
United States still supports a remains possible. core of the problem,” he Maryland in 1980, is the last known person to have seen
two-state solution. Johnson acknowledged said. Levinson before his disappearance.
His election has embold- the challenges, including In an unusual move, John- Iranian officials have been less than forthcoming. For-
ened Israeli hard-liners who “the accelerated pace of son also toured parts of mer hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sug-
oppose the establishment settlement building, the ac- the West Bank with Israel’s gested in an interview with the AP in 2010 that his coun-
of a Palestinian state, while celerated pace of demoli- anti-settlement watchdog try already had suspicions about Levinson before the
Israeli Prime Minister Ben- tions.” group Peace Now. nature of his trip became public knowledge.
jamin Netanyahu recently “Those are also the barriers “We briefed him about the “Of course if it becomes clear what his goal was, or if
stopped short of endorsing in the path of a two-state situation and the impor- he was indeed on a mission, then perhaps specific as-
the idea. solution, and we have to tance of keeping two-state sistance can be given,” Ahmadinejad said.q
Palestinians want to estab- work to remove those bar- solution alive,” Hagit Ofran
lish their state in the West riers,” he said. of Peace Now said.q