Officials bypass Netanyahu to plan Peres-Abbas meeting
Talks have recently been underway to arrange a summit between the two in Rome this April.
By Barak Ravid and Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu Mahmoud Abbas Shimon Peres Israel newsTalks have recently been underway to arrange a summit meeting in Rome this April between President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The talks have reportedly been carried out without the involvement or even the knowledge of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Abbas has persistently refused to meet.
The efforts were first reported by the Italian daily Corriere della Serra following a press conference on the subject by senior Palestinian and Italian officials in Rome.
The person behind the summit drive is Uri Savir, president of the Peres Center for Peace, who was one of the architects of the Oslo accords and served as director general of the Foreign Ministry when Peres was foreign minister. Savir has been trying to arrange the summit for months now, but until recently, Peres rejected the idea.
A few weeks ago, however, Peres finally agreed. Savir then informed the mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, that if Abbas agreed, Peres would be happy to hold a summit with him in that city, at which the two leaders would launch a new international drive for peace.
Both Alemanno's office and that of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi then contacted the Israeli embassy to arrange details of the meeting. But the embassy staff responded that they knew nothing about it. And when they asked the President's Residence, they were told that Peres would not be coming.
But a few days later, Haaretz has learned, Peres again bowed to pressure from Savir: He asked the embassy in Rome to inform Italian officials that if Abbas in fact agreed to come to the meeting, scheduled for April 21, so would Peres.
However, the President's Residence never informed anyone in the Prime Minister's Bureau about the proposed summit. And when Netanyahu's staff finally learned of it from the Italian media reports, they were furious over Peres' failure to inform them, one senior Israeli official said.
The President's Residence responded that "As of now, the president does not intend to travel to Italy, and no meeting has been scheduled for him with Abu Mazen [Abbas]. The president has said more than once that he would be happy to help advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians and would respond favorably to any initiative based on the principle of dialogue between the parties. But as of today, no summit or meeting between the parties has been set. If circumstances change, the president will inform the prime minister of his decision and will coordinate all future meetings or trips with him. The president's political advisor has made it clear to our ambassador in Rome that as of now, we cannot confirm Peres' arrival."
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Netanyahu makes the final decisions. Anything Peres says or does has no bearing on Netanyahu's leadership. Even though Peres gave a speech at the UN in 2008 suggesting the Saudi 2002 Plan for Peace is a starting point for negotiations, Netanyahu resists and has been successful in that resistance. There is little prospect for peace or justice under Netanyahu.
We from Akko,old city Isam and Naifa Galam, we are muslim business people. Naifa has hairdresser shop and me, falafel and shaorma. We support Hamas and Hisbalah because Abbas is Bahai and every two week come to Haifa to pray in Bahai Temple to give more money for Bahai from Palestinians. We do not like him, here in Akko plenty Fateh people are working with drugs like Jusef Idlbi and Azajzi family and Fozi Nimer- he is big drugs dealer. All of them are Fateh members. If Israel realy wants to talk they should talk to Hamas and Hisballah not to Abbas who is supporting dirt and corruptions!!! Thank you.
Uri Savir plus Peres should be in jail . They had sold Israel for a kiss from Arafat
I AM PALESTINIAN CHRISTIAN WOMAN, I DONT SEE ANY REASON WHY ABBAS HAS STILL POWER TO DEMAGOGICALY PRESENTING PALESTINIAN NATION!!!ISRAEL SHOULD BE ALL WEST BANK AND GAZA AND LIVE TOGETHER. JEWISH BACKROUND IS ARABIC - KING DAVID ETC.. SO WHY WE SHOULD FIGHT EACH OTHER?? BECAUSE RELIGIOUS? ANY RELIGIOUS DOESNT TELL YOU KILL YOUR COUNSIN. EVEN KORAN DOESNT SAY THIS..ACORDING ME ABBAS AND THIS CORRUPTED FATEH SHOULD DISAPPEAR- ABSOLUTELY GONE- AND HAVE A TALK ONLY WITH HAMAS - WHICH I BASECLY RECOGNIZE MORE COOPERATIVE PARTNER THAN ABBAS AND HIS FAKE PARTY AND FAKE AUTHORITY.. WHERE ARE WE LIVING? FROM ONE SIDE JEWISH DOESNT GIVE YOU ANY SUPPORT FROM OTHER SITE PALESTINIAN TALK NONSENSE ALL THE TIME. LETS TALK TOGETHER, LETS HAVE SAME RIGHTS, LETS FORGET ZIONIST IDEAS OF BAD CONTROLING..YOU WILL SEE HOW EASY YOU GET SHALID BACK.. IT IS SO EASY BUT POLITICALS MAKE PUBLIC CONFUSED, MAKE BLACK MONEY BY DRUGS, BY PROSTITUTES IN HOLY LAND TO THEIR POCKETS.THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT "HOLY"!
Peres is president of Israel, a putrely ceremonial post in which he cannot set policy. He is appointed by the Prime Minister and he was appointed by Ohlmert. His policies, when he was in power, significantly hurt Israel and all too often his speeches in recent years have also been more harmful than helpful. Senility, maybe?
Perhaps Peres can persuade Abbas to enter into direct peace talks. That would seem to be Peres' mission. If he succeeds it will be a good thing.
Peres is not the government of Israel and has no business meeting with anyone behind the legal government's back. Peres should understand this, even if the authors of this article and Uri Savir cannot.
he arranged a meeting between two has beens that have no power to conclude anything at all !
Do I not understand reality? Peres and Abbas are men who have absolutely no power. Bibi Netanyahu has total control of the Israeli government and thus ALL power. So how can ANY meeting which 'bypasses' Netanyahu be anything but a farce? Haaretz needs to replace Barak Ravid, and the editors responsible for running this flatulent farce of an article with a blown fuse, burned out circuits, and dead light bulbs. Better useless electronics than totally defective reporters and editors.
Peres, bless him, cannot deliver the two state solution. Only Netanyahu can. More time wasting by the Israeli Jews.