Abbas resisting direct talks with Israel, despite Obama pressure
The Arab League was to set out its position on direct talks on Thursday at a meeting of foreign ministers from 10 key League members in Cairo.
By The Associated PressPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is continuing to resist efforts to move to direct peace negotiations with Israel, despite a warning from the Obama administration that its assistance in establishing a future state was contingent upon such a development.
Abbas was in Cairo, ahead of an Arab League meeting to decide whether to add its weight to U.S. and Israeli pressure for face-to-face talks.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Barack Obama, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in New York in September 2009. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
Abbas is under strong U.S. and European pressure to restart direct talks that were frozen in 2008. The U.S. has for the last few months been mediating indirect negotiations between the two sides, but the Palestinian leader said he would only move toward direct talks if Israel agrees to a complete halt in settlement construction and accepts a Palestinian state in territories seized in the 1967 Six Day War - the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
"When I receive written assurances [about] accepting the 1967 border and halting the settlement [building], I will go immediately to the direct talks," Abbas was quoted as saying in remarks reported by Egypt's state-owned news agency Thursday.
Abbas said such assurances must come either directly from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or indirectly from a mediator - referring to the United States and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan.
Egypt said Wednesday it has received U.S. assurances that may help in restarting direct talks but refused to make the details public.
"I am under a kind of pressure I haven't been through all my life," Abbas said.
This week The Associated Press obtained a Palestinian document that revealed that U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell warned Abbas that if he does not agree to direct talks, President Barack Obama will not be able to help the Palestinians achieve a state of their own.
But the Palestinian president said he first wants to see progress in indirect talks that have been taking place since May under U.S. mediation. Specifically, he wants to see movement on the issue of borders for a future Palestinian state.
The internal Palestinian document warned Abbas that to give up on those demands would be political suicide.
Netanyahu, who has appealed for direct talks, has refused to be pinned down on a framework for negotiations. The Israeli prime minister has accepted the idea of Palestinian statehood with conditions but has ruled out giving up control of east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital.
On settlements, Israel has instituted a 10-month slowdown in construction in areas the Palestinians want for a future state. That is due to expire in September and Netanyahu this week strongly indicated it would not be extended.
Asked what he would do if the indirect talks, which are also scheduled to end in September, bog down, Abbas said: "I will step down." As a joke, he added, "I will work as a reporter then."
The Arab League was to set out its position on direct talks on Thursday at a meeting of foreign ministers from 10 key League members in Cairo. A final decision would then be endorsed in September by all 22 foreign ministers from the bloc. That left open the possibility that strong objections from Abbas on Thursday could delay any decision.
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Why cant Israel insist on preconditions too? 1. Recognize Israel as a Democratic JEWISH STATE. 2. realease gilad shaleet these should be Israeli pre-conditions to Obama and the whole world to show Israel can be just as mighty stubborn as theeir counterpart mule
The idea that Abbas or whoever is pressuring him wants concessions prior to sitting down and negotiating a deal is outrageous. No one in their right mind would agree and israel is right to not give concessions. The good news is that Obama may finally see the light and back off his current position which clearly favored the Palestinians. I had decided to not vote for Obama again. If peace discussions break down and Obama goes on to other issues I may change my mind, but only if he finally defines our strategic interest in the Middle East.
and Israel possess All Terratories in the Land once called Cannan and then Hahsem named the land Israel. Your jidos jidos jido wasnt even born and the hebrew nation under the command of Joshua declared the border then. And they have been infringed upon ever since.
Abbas wants Written Assurances, Great. So does Israel! The way you get there, is to sit down in "direct talks" with Israel. You don't get "written "assurances" BEFORE you sit down. These guys amaze me that want the deal first then sit down, and, can't guarantee that Hamas will agree or even honor any agreement reached. I wonder who is intimidating Abbas? Why is he so reluctant? Is he being threatened, as is common in the region i.e. Hariri in Lebanon?
... but he has to do it in a more measured way. From being tough with Netanyahu, the US turned around and started a charm offensive towards Israel aimed, I suppose, at Jewish American contributors in the coming Congressional elections. Abbas does not have such a strong influential ally as AIPAC and has to stand up for himself. This is a correct policy in principle. Abbas initially demanded freezing ALL construction in West Bank and Jerusalem as condition for talks with Netanyahu, who does not appear ready for peace. That was a reasonable demand, supported by International law. The US prevailed upon Abbas to start indirect talks instead, which he agreed to. He cannot now turn around and agree to direct talks without some real progress in the indirect talks, or else he will lose more credit with his own Palestinian public. Netanyahu the Weak wants to pass all political daring and risks to Abbas, but this also means that chances are Netanyahu will never agree to a reasonable peace agreement. This Obama must understand, Congressional elections not withstanding. The question is, how much "real progress" is demanded to show that Netanyahu is actually capable of an agreement. Abbas tends to exaggerate here, but at this point in time there appears to be no progress at all because Netanyahu only offered "gestures", no beef. Let Abbas state some reasonable measure for starting direct talks. Example: Evacuating illegal settlements. This is politically hard for a weakling like netanyahu, but Netanyahu will have no excuse not to do it, other than exposing his real face of the empty talker.
Obama is beginning to show his true colors. Like myself, most Americans are hoping he would do whatever is necessary to end this Israeli/Palestinian problem. To pressure the Palestinians to come to the table knowing that Israel holds all the cards and unwilling to cease settlement expansion seems hypocritical to me; naturally for the Palestinians, these talks will be nothing but a waste of time and will produce no new results. Doesn't Obama know this or am I missing something here? If he thinks acting dumb will get him reelected, he needs to think again, I for one, won't make the same mistake twice.
Dear Mr. Obama, I would support you to stop the human right violation in Palestine. I am embarrassed as an American when we keep on supporting Israel. We are doing something against our basic belief . I think, peace is the only solution to end the lifetime conflict. Listen to the people , not the leaders. Common people want peace. We have to stay on our principles.
which seems is his honest approach to the whole idea, then let it be. As Abbass is leader of his continggent group and seems to resist the idea of 'direct talks' , then perhaps he knows what is best for HIS ' people now. .... a status quo. So why tempt Fate and maybe even blunder.....?
I would like to see a glimpse of the "hospitality" Arabs are so "proud of". Accept the Jews in their only true home land and bring the peace that surely will bring prosperity for all the region inhabitants to unprecedented level for all to enjoy!! Arabs and Jews, wake up!!
we'd be hearing a lot of threats talkbackers about "if israel doesn't do what the us wants, maybe it doesn't need its money." Its strange how the money factor is missing from most ppl's posts. Abbas is entirely propped up by the US and EU, this is a big risk for him, and the Pals. I am still not convinced the risks of not going in peace talks for 4 months outweigh the benefits of the bad publicity and not appearing flexible in a situation that requires just that, flexibility and innovation...
No country thinks Israel has any rights to "its" settlements. That is why you don't see many people wanting to force the Palestinian leadership to change its stance. Also, cutting off financial aid to the PA would make it collapse. The US and EU do *not* want that to happen.
Few extra buildings built on land whose future would be decided in talks that last 1-2 years would not change the outcome. They would either be moved to Palestinian hands or stay in Israeli hands. Just an excuse not to talk about peace.
Abbas has offered to start direct talks for as little as an unannounced freeze for a short duration. A complete and encompassing freeze would get a peace-deal within a year.
..... That's what he is afraid of - to decide what no one before him dared decide: to make peace with Israel.....And he is no Sadat.
Peace and I mean real peace is in the favor of every single Palestinian. The argument for this is straightforward: this is no single Palestinian who is in favor to see neither "IDF" knocking doors at the early morning nor being humiliated at checkpoints. Peace for us means life. We'll have our rights and dignity back. Something that an occupier cannot offer the occupied. Thats why we're seeing now stalled peace talks. Israel is in no mean ready to give us our capital, our land, our borders, our resources, etc. In simple words, a Palestinian state is a strategic threat for Israel, from the perspective of extremists like Bibi and Lieberman. Abbas is not afraid to sign such a peace agreement, but he's afraid that the struggle of his people will continue because our very rights cannot be given by an occupier.
I would like to see him make peace as much as anyone, but I'm not sure he can. I'm pretty sure were Abbas to agree to direct talks, he would be assassinated by his own people, let alone Hamas, and the Arab block. And let's not forget that during the conference of the three No's in the 70s the arab block specifically said that they would not allow a palestinian state (though not called palestine at the time) alongside a jewish state. This is the same reason that all the palestinians don't simply immigrate to other arab countries. On the other hand, Natanyahu cannot set terms before negotiations begin. It's known in Israeli politics that whatever you agree on camera is a possibility will become the starting point of the next negotiations. Were Natanyahu to agree to the 67 borders, Abbas would only be trying to get more. And, unfortunately, since no palestinian leader is strong enough to make peace without being assassinated, these negotiations aren't going anywhere. Even were Natanyahu to agree to everything that Abbas wants, like Barak did with Arafat, that would only lead to more demands. Like the right of return.
Don't be confused that Abbas continues to play the obstinate victim even though Israel has kept to its commitment to a 10 month settlement freeze. For Abbas to agree to really negotiate over substantive issues is the worst possible scenario for him because it might actually lead to a Palestinian state in addition to a Jewish state. The Palestinians constitute a movement rather than a national entity; their raison d'etre is the destruction of Israel, nothing more and nothing less. This is why Arafat wouldn't agree to Barak's outlandishly generous terms in 2000. This is why the Palestinians were perfectly satisfied to live under Jordanian rule in Judea/Samaria and Egyptian rule in Gaza from 1949-1967.
it happened that immigrants were collected from all the world to form what so called israel for better controling of the middle east, thats why israel enjoying the full back up of the west,,,, the peace talks etc etc etc is somthing just to wast time, those immigrants should somhow pack up and go home and let the world live in peace
Abbas knows that it is a waste of time to move to direct talks when Israel refuses to even develop a foundation for those talks to build upon. My guess is that very soon Abbas will be stepping down, the PA will dissolve and the last chance of achieving a two state solution will leave with him; leaving a single state solution as the only course of action.
It's Abbas who doesn't want to start talking before he's sure there'll be anything left to talk about when the procrastination stops. It is he, not the Arab League, who has the most interest in insisting that the building stops while talks are going on. Don't forget he's been talking for a long, long while and what have the talks produced until now? A fence cutting off what remains of the West Bank from the people whose land has been subtracted from them and structures, industrial parks and apartments on what's left. Any Israeli who really wants peace should insist that Netanyahu stops building while the talks go on. Settlement freeze and a moratorium on evictions and demolitions everywhere else in Israel and the West Bank. That's the only way any realistic peace will ever be on the cards.
The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, as the old saying goes. To demand that all the issues that need to be negotiated are decided prior to the commencement of negotiations -- which the Arabs themselves stopped in the first place – is vintage Arab behavior. Anyone interested in buying a nice rug?
...so let them share it. This is possible with the help of UN/US mediation. Lets not forget that East Jerusalem is a World Heritage Site, settlements do not belong there! But Palestine should include the same amount and quality of land as those demarked by the 1967 borders, with the areas around the separation wall mapped on Israeli territory. Also, the Arab leaders of this future state should decide on building permits for any WB settlement activity...this would give Israel an incentive to allow their Arabs equal access to building permits. America should facilitate Israels reluctance of a palestinian military by fostering a powerful alliance with a future palestinian state, an alliance just as powerful as their current Israeli one.
leave the west bank or give all pals citizenship and become a arab state within 10 years. you can not take the land and not the people living on it .give up the land or accept the people on it
Neither - nor. If the Pals won't compromise on land swaps and on Jerusalem, the status quo will continue for ever. If that's, what the Pals want - bewakashah!
because it is not Arab land, never has been and never will be. Israel has been fighting and winning wars for the past over 60 years and not for nothing......for her homeland. Accept it.
Abbas is a fool..or rather a scared fool. He talks about political suicide if he agrees to direct talks without precoditions. As far as I am concerned he is stalling for time and packing away lots of cash.
since the p.a has done nothing but make itself rich
hamas gains , support ,and plenty of money
And Israel has every chance to stop this radicalization. Pursuing a peace-deal which is highly unfavourable to Palestinians is not a good way to reach a lasting peace. In all likelyhood it leads to increased support for violent resistance instead of a peace-deal. And if (by some miracle) Israel manages to force its many demands on the Palestinians we end up with an unfavourable deal that will be exploited in the same way that the Versailles-treaty was.
millioins of hamas supporters or sympathizers will have to be israeli citizens
for knowing no gratitude,, for being a heinous terrorist,.. at the many disastrous attempts to destroy the very state who gave her the land.it is sitting on, and for losing out on every attempt to destroy the State of Israek. Shame is her name.
stop the land grabs and bulldozing
Why should Paletinians trust themand go back to a useless dialogue thant never ends?,
I think president Abbas is being fair and rational. Fixing the borders issues would fix many other issues. For instance, once the bordered are defined, settlement building would no longer be a problem. As an observer I think denying this very logical demand by Israel before the negotiations would be an irrational act and therefore makes the negotiations an occasion to sit around the table and drink tea and coffee and probably some dates, if any. The question here is why does Bibi keep denying these very right demands. I think if he's serious to join direct peace talks he should announce a schedule for these negotiations at least to show his stance of core issues. This would give the Pals as well as the world some idea about what Bibi is after. Whatever happens I think Abbas is on the right way but as we all know we live in the ISrael-US world and unfortunately Pals always lose but we will keep standing up whoever leads Israel.
It's the same with Assad - he also wants all his conditions to be accepted BEFORE talks start. What is there left to talk about ?
Land swap, security concern, right of return. Arabs countries offer peace but Israel prefers land grab, water grab, Jerusalem grab, American's money. As long as there is no peace Israel gets 3 billions dollars per year. What a rent !
Act like a real leader and stop being manipulated by the US. Stand your ground and put the interests of the Palestinian people above and beyond anything else. It's about time they had a strong and decisive leadership that stood up for their rights and not caved in to this farce of a peace process. Obama should be pressuring Israel, not the Palestinians who have sacrificed far too much.
...that the palestinians don't want to have a palestinian state alongside israel but that they want to have all of "palestine". the resistance of mr. abbas to turn to direct talks which would result in a palestinian state alongside israel is just another proof.
Abbas, the Pals and the Arab League have been open and honest about what they ideally want from negotiations and what they're prepared to negotoate about, like a fair settlement of the refugee question. Apart from Bibi, under enormous US pressure, saying he's prepared to consider a Palestinian state, he and his coalition have said notihing positive whatsoever about what they want to discuss with Abbas. The reason, of course, being that they only want discussiosn to get US presure off them. There aren't any major concessions that all of Bibi's faction-ridden and extremist government could agree on. They can't even agree on an opening negotiating position, except the negative one of saying they won't discuss East Jerusalem. Abbas is right to resist Obama's pressure, which Obama is probably only putting on for domestic US political reasons, to get AIPAC off his back.
sadly neither side is serious
They will gladly take your money and tell you to hit the road. What will you do about it? The only way to deal with Israel is to start by suspending all aid to Israel. If you do this, you will have their immediate attention. At some point the American government must be held accountable for the fact that America is pouring its life blood into the mideast to take on the enemies of Israel while Americans are suffering and going down the tubes at home.
means no money for his party. Huge media uproar.Political suicide. US Presidents are Lobby's poodle.
He really does not need any state any time soon - WB life is good - he admitted recently - and he can not agree to anything. Israelis still can count on WBankers advancing into Buddhism en mass and WB Arams may still hope that allah stop hating them...
Obama has granted concessions to Israel in order in orter to motivate them to pursue direct peace talks. Some of the concessions we already know about. (1) The extra harsh measures taken against Iran, (2) more money for Israeli defense shields (3) Obamas silence on the settlement freeze. There are certainly others that we don't know about. This is motivation for the ultra right wing Israeli government to put on their peace maker masks and play the part. Actually it is only Bibi playing the part. His coalition partners don't have the stomach nor the inclination to embrace peace, so they merely agreed to shup up for the time being. Anyone with a brain will be able to understand that this has nothng to do with peace. Americas long time position on peace has been based on two states along the approximatel 1967 borders. This is also the Arab position and the EU position. All Obama has to do is give Abbas assurances that America will support their own long time position. If Obama can't even do this, then there is literally no point in peace talks except as a cover for granting unilateral concessions to Israel. We cannot blame Abbas for not wanting to play a part in such a travesty.
All building in occupied Palestine is illegal. All laws passed by the occupying country (Israel ) are illegal. All demolitions are illegal. All of the aformentioned are illegal under International Law. We read again of 90 year olds being prosecuted in Germany when will these organisations start to investigate war crimes being committed on a daily basis on the poor Palestinians?
were they investigated as well? What about Black September or Munich? War crimes? While you're at it, please tell me what is Palestinian land exactly? When was it commissioned by a nation called Palestine, ever? I guess the Ottomans and Brits should be tried for war crimes too?
The Arab League has to authorize every tiny little thing in the Palestinian side. This has always been hiding in the dark shadows as Arab Nationalism of the MIddle East, yet they always somehow try to paint Zionism as the only Nationalistic movement by an ethnic / religious pretext. Why doesn't the Arab League just fly to Jerusalem and negotiate with Netanyahu so we can all finally see who the real players are in this game?
My preference is no. The League hasn't done anything for the Palestinian cause that readily comes to mind.
Impossible for the Arab League to say or do anything without the Sunni Saudi permission ,all roads lead to Riyadh ?
"The Israeli prime minister has accepted the idea of Palestinian statehood with conditions but has ruled out giving up control of east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital." Best do a rethink on that one and maybe a case can be made for accelerated talks.
they wish prior to peace talks and then? The peace talks will be about what? Isn't peace talks by definiton about two people having disagreements and they will talk to try to reach an understanding? Perhaps Abbas defines peace talks as Security For Israel and that's what he says "We will talk about your peace and see the outcome only after you promiss us all we want." I'm confused.
Where Israel shows up and says: "Look we'd like to keep X, Y and Z, you can have this little bit of desert we can't really find any use for. You don't like that? Let's talk about it for a couple of years while we continue to build on X, Y and Z.
The idea is that they would prefer not to waste ther time and give Netanyahu more excuses to say that the Palestinians do not want peace. A peace based on the current borders would leave Palestine in 22% of its former borders. People have lost even more land due to 67 and the war. They need to see that Netanyahu will publicly agree to some very simple demands
That's crazy. You use the INdirect talks to feel out the other side and gauge their positions, and only when you are convinced that a deal can be reached do you go to the direct negotiations. Netanyahu has refused all efforts to put his positions to Mitchell, unlike Abbas who has provided Mitchell with detailed documentation regarding the Palestinian log of claims. Abbas is right; if Netanyahu isn't going to respond in kind during the INdirect phase then there is no point at all in going to the direct phase.
UN 242 calls for withdrawal but also calls for security for all sides. Why should the idea of complete withdrawal be a precondition and the security aspect shouldn't?
It calls for security for all sides *within* their own borders. It does not say: "please redraw the borders as you wish and force all other parties to submit to this redrawal by dragging out the war for a couple of more decades."
in a time when he could not get a better deal with Obama as President. Which tells you exactly where his heart lies. No interest in statehood side-by-side with Israel. So much for so-called Palestinian Moderates...
in a time when he could not get a better deal with Obama as President. Which tells you exactly where his heart lies. No interest in statehood side-by-side with Israel. So much for so-called Palestinian Moderates...
Israel wants to enjoy both worlds. On one hand it wants to continue building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. On the other hand it wants to appease the world in light of it's latest acts of aggression. It doesn't work like that. If you want a two state solution you need to stop building in a territory that isn't yours to begin with.
There never ha sbeen a Palestine except as defined by Roman occupiers. So who are the occupiers, Romans, Greeks, Turks, Persians etc. Israel has been occupied by others for 2000 years . What is calle the Holocaust is actually the third systematic attempt to kill the people of Israel. The" peace" is the fourth attempt.
using a book of religon to defend your injutice is rediculious
Who ever plays the piper calls the tune. Unfortunately in the Palestinian camp their are far too many pipers. They are all totally confused .