Posted on 09/24/2009 9:37:17 AM PDT by SJackson
The Palestinians cannot return to peace talks at this time because of "fundamental disagreements" with Israel on what should be on the agenda, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published Thursday, rebuffing an appeal by US President Barack Obama that both sides get back to the table promptly.
Abbas said he wants to avoid a crisis with the Obama administration at any cost, but that "there is no common ground for discussion" with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Earlier this week, an increasingly impatient Obama summoned Netanyahu and a reluctant Abbas to a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Obama told the two leaders that too much time had already been wasted and that it was time to resume peace talks. He reiterated his call in a speech to the General Assembly on Wednesday, saying, "The time has come to relaunch negotiations - without preconditions."
Netanyahu had praised Obama's UN address, which also backed Israel's right to live securely and stressed its legitimacy as a "Jewish state."
RELATED PM: Obama speech will push peace talks The speech was "good and positive" for Israel and for moving the peace process forward, the prime minister told The Jerusalem Post.
However, speaking in New York, Abbas said that even at the risk of alienating Obama, he could not return to talks without a clear agenda.
"In all honesty, we want to protect our relations with President Obama under any conditions," he told the London-based Al Hayat newspaper. "We don't want to come out with a crisis with the Americans, or create a crisis. But in the meantime, we can't go on unless there is a clear path. The road must be defined so we can know where we are going."
Abbas called again for a complete settlement freeze.
"We can't accept the status quo because a partial halt means a continuation of settlements," he said. "Even if it is halted by 95 percent, it is still a continuation of settlement activities."
Abbas said that despite "fundamental disagreements" with Netanyahu over the terms of negotiations, he will keep talking to Israel about day-to-day issues that concern the Palestinians, including security and the economy. "We don't reject the principle of talks and dialogue," he said.
In Jerusalem on Thursday, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon suggested the Palestinians were wasting time by insisting on a settlement freeze. He noted that when required to do so in the past - as part of a peace deal with Egypt and the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza - Israel had uprooted settlements.
He disputed the Palestinians' contention that, as opposed to Israel, they have lived up to their peace obligations, such as disarming terror groups.
"We know what needs to be done," Ayalon told The Associated Press, referring to the possible future dismantling of settlements. "So why single out this one issue, leaving aside the other important issues to us, [such as] Palestinian terror."
‘there is no common ground for discussion”
There is no common ground because the Palestinians do not want a separate state, they want Israel gone!
But of course. The Israelis want to be left in peace, and the Arabs want Israel destroyed. Irreconcilable differences.
Maybe both sides just think this guy is an idiot and a waste of time trying to get glory for himself by using their conflict.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Successful diplomacy.
That’s okay! He was really talking to the joooooos.
Gee, in the photo op with Obama and the main street medias captions everything was going just swell yesterday. Middle East peace was virtually a done deal. How could that have fallen apart so fast? sarc
Both sides now realize they can’t trust the word of the USA to live up to any promises we may make in regards to helping implement any peace treaty. In light of that, what is the point?
Wow. I am glad about something Abu Mazen said. Will wonders never cease.
I like this Netanyahu guy.)
I don’t blame Abbas and Bibi.
I would not negotiate anything with NObama, either.
He is NOT to be trusted.
By statute, it ought to be required that six times a day, an aide goes to the President and firmly and loudly tells him: “You may pretend otherwise, but peace in the Mid East is a fantasy.”
As if anything Abbas says means anything.
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