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Palestinian negotiators try to reach out to Israeli people: official

31 August 2010 22:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Palestinian negotiators have appeared in YouTube videos as part of a campaign to address the Israeli public the need to attain regional peace, an official said Tuesday, APA reports quoting news.xinhuanet.com website.

"The videos are part of a Palestinian campaign to convince the Israeli people to accept peace," Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The campaign was launched on Sunday, a few days before Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) resume direct peace talks in Washington on September 2 after over 15 months of stall.

In one of the videos, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in English that "I know that the majority of Israelis still believe in two-state solutions."

"I’m your partner, are you mine?" Erekat said in the video, indicating that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will also talk to the Israeli public.

The campaign targets the Israeli people "in a bid to reduce the level of extremism there," said Majdalani, adding the Palestinian views would be explained to the Israelis in more than one way.

Earlier, Israel’s Yediot Ahronot newspaper said the Palestinian campaign was funded by the United States.

The PNA decision to resume direct talks with Israel was opposed by many Palestinian factions. They said Israel should first stop settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem before going to direct talks.