Netanyahu to U.S. congressman: Mideast peace possible within year
PM says he hopes Abbas won't abandon peace process, after Palestinian leader says he will refuse to concede to Israel over refugees or borders.
By Jonathan Lis, Avi Issacharoff and Haaretz Service Tags: Israel news Middle East peace Mahmoud Abbas PalestiniansPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed concern Monday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would abandon the peace process, after the latter declared that he would not concede to Israel on a number of core issues and would refuse to continue negotiations should construction resume in West Bank settlements.
Netanyahu told a delegation of visiting U.S. congressmen during a meeting at his bureau that there were still many issues left to discuss. He also said that he "believes it possible, through such direct and contiguous negotiations, held without breaks or delays, to achieve a peace agreement within a year", spokesman Nir Hefez said following the meeting.
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U.S. President Barack Obama with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Sept. 1, 2010 |
| Photo by: Reuters |
Abbas told the East Jerusalem-based Al-Quds al-Araby newspaper earlier Monday that if forced to give in on the issues of refugees or borders, he would "pack my bags and leave".
The Palestinian president also vowed to cut off direct negotiations with Israel if construction were to resume in West Bank settlements and said he would refuse to bring to the table with Netanyahu recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. "Israel can call itself what it likes," Abbas told the East Jerusalem-based newspaper.
Abbas, on a tour of North African Arab countries to brief their leaders on the Washington talks, was quoted by other media on Monday as saying that the renewed peace talks would begin with discussion on the issue of borders and security, before moving on to other topics.
"If we want to start negotiations, then we will start with borders and then move to security because borders is important for us and security is important for them [Israel]," the Ramallah-based al-Ayyam daily on Monday cited Abbas as saying from Tripoli, Libya.
The direct talks, launched last Thursday in Washington, after a hiatus of nearly two years, are due to continue next week in Egypt.
The Palestinian leader said he would push for recognition of the de facto borders which existed before the June 1967 war as the borders of the future Palestinian state.
Abbas added that "if we agree on it [border] and demarcate it, then this means we have found a solution for Jerusalem, water and settlements and all that will be left are issues such as refugees and others, which we will discuss in the second stage."
He said that once a treaty is reached, Palestinians would not "accept any Israeli presence, whether civilian or military, on the Palestinian territories."
Abbas reiterated his position that the fresh negotiations would come to an end if Israel resumes construction in its West Bank settlements at the end of September, when a 10-month partial building freeze is due to end.
The negotiations, he said, "will be for this month. If the government of Israel extended the settlement freeze decision, we will continue in negotiations. If it does not, we will get out of these negotiations."
Abbas said he made this position clear to U.S. President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as to Netanyahu.
"There is already a freeze," said Abbas. "What we fear is that the freeze will be cancelled and they will resume settlement [construction] everywhere."
The Palestinian president's remarks came a day after Netanyahu said Israel and the Palestinian Authority would have to find new and original solutions to the issues standing in the way of achieving a peace deal.
In a debriefing to cabinet ministers at the weekly cabinet session in Jerusalem, prime minister said that Israel had "proven in the past that [it is] willing to go a long way in order to achieve peace, but this time, for us to succeed, we must learn from the lessons of the past and think in an original way."
"What is required is creative, novel thinking in order to resolve these complex issues," Netanyahu said.
One of the issues the premier may have alluded to in his remark is Israel's current settlement construction freeze, due to expire on September 26.
Speaking to Army Radio earlier Sunday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Netanyahu did not mention the settlement moratorium during last week's summit, clarifying that the Israeli premier did not "mention the word freezing."
The Palestinian negotiator added, when asked what he thought Israel would decide on the matter, that the PA knows "his position and he knows our position. We will see what will happen in the next few days."
Erekat also told Army Radio he felt the two sides were interested in achieving a viable peace, saying that "the time now is for decisions not for negotiations."
Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said Monday that Israel's demand to be officially recognized as a Jewish state was "a cause for concern", considering the growing Arab sector.
"Arabs make up 20% of Israel's population," Aboul Gheit told the Al-Arabiya media. "What will happen when they're 30%, say in 25 years?"
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The reason Netanyahu demands it is that he can then say:The Palestinian refugees cannot return to the Jewish state. But the refugee problem has to be discussed as part of the deal, not as a "trick". For Abbas to recognize Israel as the homeland for the Jews is to demand from him some determination about history. What Abbas knows as a historical fact is that Israel was part of the homeland of the Palestinian people (as defined today). The Jewish claim is debated by historians (although I, and most Jews, believe it as a certainty. If Abbas is willing to decide historical claims, he might say: Israel and Palestine are the homelands for the Jewish people and for the Palestinian people. (Indeed, Judea and Samaria are the homeland of the Jews more than Israel proper). But such a historical determination by Abbas will be of no use for Netanyahu. I think Yahoo should reconsider his pointless demand.
I have a spare suitcase that Mr. Abbas can use. Why even continue the charade of peace ntalks when he deemands the same of deal breakers of prior negotiations. He wants return to 1967 borders, RoR, Jerusalem and no Jews in the new state of Palestine. So what is Mr. Abbas prepared to give up. Nothing it seems. Once again the Palestinian leadership has failed its people and doomed the tals to failure. Where are all those Talbackers who scream about Israel being and apartheid state when Mr. Abass refuses to accept ny Israeli civilians in the Palestinian territories. Same od same old. Be interesting to see the spin the the usual jew haters put on this one. Well Nattalie, Lahbras, Tony Silver Chris Linthwaite.
There are many "Islamic States" that have adopted Islam, specifically Sharia, as its foundations for political institutions, or laws, exclusively, and has implemented the islamic ruling system khilafah ..Arabic , thats ok. But one tiny little Jewish State no ways says Abbas I will not reconise a Jewish State but will reconise an Islamic State ......oh yehhhhhhhh.
What a small man Abbas is - no vision, no yearning for peace, no compromise. The Palestinian people are cursed to have the likes of him as a leader. Left to Abbas, Erekat and Rabo all the Palestinian people will ever see is blood and hopelessness. It is clearer every day who stands for peace, Israel, and who stands for war eternal, the Palestinians.
So glad Abbas can take time off from name roads and city squares after terrorist. This man is no peace partners - he doesn't have the balls or the brains.
Just go through the Geneva Initiative (by Beilin-Abed Rabbo) and recognize the simplicity of the matter. 1. On refugees, symbolic numbers return to Israel, the rest are settled worldwide or compensated. 2. On borders, 1:1 exchage for pre-1967 borders. 3. On East Jerusalem, Jewish neighborhoods to Israel and Arab ones to Palestine. Special regime in the old city./// P.S. Yasser Abed Rabbo is a top aide of Abbas today.
The entire Left, the EU and UN, J-Street and Peace Now, would accuse him of being obstructionist. But they are strangely silent right now.
Saeb erekat is right,It's time for decisions.and if Bibi is ready to achieve peace there must be courageous decisions.The focus must be always in peace.If these leaders fail again then no one in the world will believe in us anymore.Give peace a chance means really do concrete steps.In half with rhetorics.Be strong and make peace.
Can someone please tell me why we are talking to this man who apparently wants everything but refuse to give anything?
If Abbas says outright that Israel is not to be recognized as a sovereign state, what's the point of meeting with him? He sounds like an enemy to me, who should be attacked, not sat at the table with. And who is he, anyway? His mandate has expired long ago. Even if he makes a deal, it will not be recognized by the terrorists of Hamas, who will continue terrorizing Israel. It makes no sense to negotiate with whom wants to kill you.
the arabs think they are in possition of asking Israel for everything. seem they don't remember that they lost every war they started................ the arabs can't impose their conditions. Israel is offering much more that they can expect. what are they offering to Israel?............................. facts are simple. ISRAEL IS THE JEWISH STATE. Abbas is nobody to decide what Israel must be, that is a israeli issue................................ about the "refugees", that is a palestinian problem. no "refugee" must enter to Israel, they are not israeli and will never be. and if they want any kind of compensation, THE SAME must be done for the 900000 jewish refugees from arabs lands...................... particulary I don't think about that jordan is palestine, and palestine is jordan. the arabs deserve their state.................... but they must understand that their state is Gaza and the west bank (with some modifications). forget about Jerusalem. Yerushalayim is not your city nor your capital. Yerushalayim will never be divided again (now that the king of Jordan is in USA, why he don't tell Abbas what they did in the eastern part of Jerusalem between 1948-1967? never again destroyed sinagogues, never again jewish in masse expulsions, never again the jewish quarter destroyed and never again roads with jewish tombstones. etc. etc............................................... if the arabs want a state for the palestinians, recognize Israel as the state for the jewish people. ( I hope that in a land exchange, arabs areas of israel to go to a palestinian state, and jewish areas in WB, to Israel.)..................................................... of course all depends on israelies and palestinians. I am just a jew who want to see peace in Israel, the land of the jewish people. and want to say much more but my english don't let me
1. Idea for the Palestinians: Some settlers say that they will remain in their settlements even if they are turned over to Palestine. Fine, accept such settlements in your territory. They will start declining right away (with residents escaping) when they get no assistance from Palestine government for teachers etc until they are brought to the level of Arab schools. Likewise, water, electricity and other services. Even better, don't offer immunity for crimes the settlers committed against Arabs. Many will end up in jail, so give them the option to disappear. The PROBLEM: The settlers say anything that would prevent Israel from giving up the settlements. They will OBJECT to this creative idea once it seems acceptable, claiming they are being abandoned./// 2. Idea for Israel: Just before Passover, spread a lot of Hametz (bread, etc) over the settlements. Can be done from the air. The settlers will have to sell the settlement to a goy (Arab) for Pesach (of course very cheaply, since he is expected to sell it back after the holiday). After the holiday, the Arab should refuse to sell it back. The settlers' rabbis recognize the sale as valid. End of story. (Note: Better that the government should do the sale, but under the supervision of a settler grand rabbi.)
Bye...........Bye , adios, au revoir, bye, cheerio, good-by, sayonara, so long . What a Charade ,what a waste of time . We all knew from the start Abbas the leader had no power of authorization what so ever .
is that the alleged peace 'talks" are in fact still born!
The staff f Haaretz is so enamored of him...their goals are the same
Apparently he is not interested in either state or peace. Let's wait ...
No israel, No Palestine. One State Solution is the best for all. One Man, One Vote, Equality for all inhabitants. Equal Pay for Equal Work, Equal Water Rights. No Apartheid, No Segregation...A Very True Secular Democrac Let us call it: “State of Holy Land”.
The Palestinian president's remarks came a day after Netanyahu said Israel and the Palestinian Authority would have to find new and original solutions to the issues standing in the way from achieving a peace deal.
Then why bother having these negotiations at all? Especially if they aren't negotiations but rather a demand list that Abbas expects to present to Israel and have fulfilled to the letter. Unless he's simply pandering to the Arab world and saying what they expect him to say, he is not setting a tone for any kind of workable agreement. But, sure, Abbas, walk away. It's not like you deliver anything you sign on paper. If the IDF ever leaves, you can be sure Hamas will cream you in the next election.
The Palestinian leaders never concede anything. What they really want is for there to be no Israel. The 1967 borders would not be enough either.
Poor baby.