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PA won’t agree to direct talks

08 June 2010 20:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that it will not agree to launch direct talks with Israel as long as the "proximity" negotiations, which began last month, fail to achieve any progress, APA reports quoting The Jerusalem Post.

The announcement was made on the eve of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s visit to Washington, where he is scheduled to hold talks with US President Barack Obama on the status of the Middle East peace process and the latest developments in the region.

Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a senior aide to Abbas, said that the Palestinians recently told US special envoy George Mitchell that Israel’s request to launch direct negotiations was "unacceptable."

Abdel Rahim said that the Palestinians prefer to wait and see if the "proximity" talks achieve any agreement on the issues of borders and security during the four-month period allocated for the talks before deciding on their next move.

He claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was not really interested in moving the peace process forward. On the contrary, he continued, "Netanyahu wants to destroy the peace process by ignoring the Arab Peace Initiative and the Quartet’s road map plan."

Abdel Rahim said that the Palestinians don’t rule out the possibility that forces belonging to a third part would be deployed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on a temporary basis.

The Abbas aide said that the PA was very keen on ending its dispute with Hamas. However, he blamed the Islamist movement’s "intransigence" for the failure of mediation efforts to solve the crisis.

Abbas’s visit to Washington comes as he continues to face immense pressure to achieve "reconciliation" with Hamas. Earlier this week, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged Abbas during a meeting in Istanbul to patch up his differences with Hamas. Erdogan also offered to act as a mediator between the two parties.

Arab League Secretay-General Amr Musa, who is expected to visit the Gaza Strip shortly for the first time, has also offered his good offices.

Last weekend, Abbas met in Jordan with Jamal Khudari, an independent Palestinian legislator from the Gaza Strip with close ties to Hamas and discussed with him ways of solving the crisis, Palestinian sources revealed. They said that Abbas relayed through Khudari a message to Hamas to the effect that he is deeply interested in ending the power struggle that has split the West Bank from the Gaza Strip.

Azzam al-Ahmed, a Fatah official closely associated with Abbas, confirmed that the PA has been holding direct talks with Hamas in recent months. He said that he personally was in contact with Hamas leaders Mahmoud Zahar in the Gaza Strip and Nasser Eddin Shaer and Samir Abu Aisheh in the West Bank.

Ahmed said that he told the Hamas leaders that aid ships won’t end the blockade on the Gaza Strip. "This is unrealistic and it won’t happen," the Fatah official said. "Hamas must know that the ships won’t lift the siege. Only national reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas will end the siege."

Abbas to send delegation to Gaza

Abbas said in an interview this week that he is planning to send a delegation to the Gaza Strip to seek reconciliation with Hamas.

"The best answer to [the raid]... is for Palestinian groups to reconcile and resist Israel hand-in-hand," Abbas told Turkey’s NTV news channel.

"We have put together a delegation from the Palestinian leadership to go to Gaza and persuade Hamas to reconcile," he said.

The only condition for reconciliation is for Hamas to accept an Egyptian plan calling on the two sides to make peace and hold elections, he said.

"I believe and hope that this time we will succeed," Abbas added.