Israel Matzav: Even more good news: Abu Bluff says Netanyahu agreed to 'settlement freeze' in Jerusalem

Even more good news: Abu Bluff says Netanyahu agreed to 'settlement freeze' in Jerusalem

'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen says that he's ready for 'proximity talks' and the reason for that move is quite simple: Prime Minister Netanyahu has given away the store.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s readiness to enter proximity talks with Israel, which he announced during an interview with Channel 2 Monday evening, follows assurances the Palestinians received from US special Middle East envoy George Mitchell that the Israeli government would effectively freeze construction of new homes in some of Jerusalem’s neighborhoods, a PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post.

“[Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu has promised the Americans that the Ramat Shlomo housing project won’t take place, at least not in the near future,” the official told the Post. “Netanyahu has also promised to refrain from taking provocative measures in the city, such as publishing new house tenures or demolishing Arab houses under the pretext that they were built without permission.”

The official added that Abbas’s new stance was the result of heavy pressure from the US administration and that the interview had been conducted at the request of the Americans, who advised Abbas to send a “conciliatory” message to Netanyahu and the Israeli public to pave the way for the resumption of the “proximity talks.”

During the Channel 2 interview, Abbas said he would seek the Arab League’s assent to such talks on May 1, and hoped the league’s decision would be “positive.”

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Israel Matzav: Even more good news: Abu Bluff says Netanyahu agreed to 'settlement freeze' in Jerusalem