Wednesday 6 January 2010

Israel Matzav: No talks with the 'Palestinians' anytime soon

No talks with the 'Palestinians' anytime soon

On Tuesday, Israel's Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, begged UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to convince 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen to return to peace talks with Israel. But Ban didn't even have to answer. The 'Palestinians' said no immediately.

"Israel is insisting on the impossible," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Army Radio. "It is [Israel] who is setting conditions. We demand an authorized Israeli leader publicly commit to negotiations based on the 1967 borders, in accordance with the road map plan."

"[Israel] is demanding that a unified Jerusalem be it's capital, is continuing construction in the eastern part of the city and wants to control 40 percent of the West Bank - and yet you say you have no preconditions," said Erekat. "As the situation looks now, I really don't see a possibility for a summit."

...

Abbas on Tuesday shot down reports that new developments were afoot in the peace process with Israel. The Palestinian president told Al-Jazeera television that he has yet to see the details of an American peace plan nor has he become aware of American guarantees for the PA in the event that negotiations with Israel resume.

Abbas said that the Palestinians would wait to hear what U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy to the region, George Mitchell, had to offer during his visit next week before publicly adopting a position on renewing talks. An unnamed Palestinian official told Al-Jazeera that Abbas met with Mitchell on Saturday in Amman.

Abbas also said that he would postpone any decision on whether or not to restart the talks until he sees what happens during next week's visit to Washington by two senior Egyptian officials, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.

Israeli officials have predicted that Abbas will first try to wrest as many guarantees as possible from the American administration.

Heh.

Israel Matzav: No talks with the 'Palestinians' anytime soon

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