| April 16, 2019
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Palestinian’s Abbas: Trump disqualified, talks proceed only via Putin

REPORT: Palestinian official tells Russian news agency that the Trump administration was eliminated as an impartial broker in peace talks after their ‘Jerusalem in Israel’s capital’ declaration, but are prepared “to come and sit and have talks with Netanyahu in the presence of President Putin.”

By i24NEWS

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is ready to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Russian-led initiative, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told Russia’s Sputnik news agency.

“We have reiterated our readiness and our willingness to President Putin that any time that he believes there is readiness on the Israeli side we will be more than ready to come and sit and have talks with Netanyahu in the presence of President Putin,” al-Maliki said.

Since the hotly contested US embassy move to Jerusalem Palestinian officials have refused to meet with their US counterparts, claiming the United States has unfairly sided with Israel and thus can no longer act as an impartial broker in a peace talks.

Senior officials in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have said recently they believe Russia would be a more “balanced” and “credible” mediator in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks than the United States.

For its part, Russia has also repeatedly expressed willingness to arrange talks between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Maliki said the meeting would need to be hosted by Putin, who he declared was “the one who will create the best conditions for a meeting to take place and for a meeting to be successful.”

Al-Maliki also said the Palestinian government would reject any proposal for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that does not recognize Palestine as an independent state, in reference to the allegedly imminent Trump administration “deal of the century.”

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not had a formal meeting in several years as tensions have reached a new level of hostility between Netanyahu and the PLO head. The last formal meeting between the two was in September 2010.

US President Donald Trump announces that the US government officially recognizes the city of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel. – Screenshot: WH.Gov

The Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership has seen increasingly icy relations with the US following a series of policy moves deemed hostile to the Palestinian cause, including Trump’s decisions to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and drastically de-fund the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA).

Since the hotly contested embassy move, Palestinian officials have refused to meet with their US counterparts, claiming the United States has unfairly sided with Israel and thus can no longer act as an impartial broker in a peace talks.

Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Tuesday any peace plan should be based on the previous principles of negotiations which call for two states based on the 1967 borders with a territorial exchange and two capitals in Jerusalem.

A close adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Rudeineh told a group of Israeli journalists in a meeting organized by the Geneva Institute: “as long as Jerusalem is not on the table, the Trump program will not be on the table.”

“The Israeli government must immediately speak with the Palestinian leadership and make it clear to the US that a program that will not give peace a chance will only increase despair and increase the chances of violence,” said Gadi Baltiansky, Director General of the Geneva Institute, a joint Israeli-Palestinian civil society effort for peace.

 

View original i24NEWS publication at:
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/1555394399-pa-s-abbas-ready-to-meet-netanyahu-if-russia-hosts

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