ISRAELI PRIME minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas yesterday that he wants to co-operate in the future in order to advance the peace process.
The Palestinian president called Mr Netanyahu to mark the Jewish festival of Passover in the first contact between the two men since the leader of the right-wing Likud party took over as Israeli prime minister two weeks ago.
Sources in the prime minister’s office described the short conversation as “warm and friendly”, saying Mr Netanyahu stressed the co-operation between them in the past.
Mr Abbas responded by saying that both sides “needed to work for peace”. No date was announced for a meeting between the two leaders and a resumption of direct peace talks between the sides is unlikely until both men hold separate meetings in Washington with US president Barack Obama in the coming weeks.
The president’s Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell travels to the region today for talks with both sides.
Mr Abbas has said there is no point in resuming talks until the new Israeli prime minister commits to a two-state solution. While expressing a desire for peace, Mr Netanyahu has refused to back the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, stressing instead measures to improve the West Bank economy.
Israel’s controversial new foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman declared that Israel is not committed to the Annapolis process. The Annapolis conference, inaugurated by George Bush, launched a year of negotiations between the Palestinians and the previous Israeli government headed by Ehud Olmert, aimed at the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Following Mr Lieberman’s comments, Mr Netanyahu ordered a diplomatic policy review of the Palestinian peace track. The reassessment will be completed before a scheduled meeting next month at the White House.
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki suggested yesterday that the Palestinians should set a deadline of the end of this year for achieving progress towards an independent state.
The foreign minister said the Palestinian president will meet Mr Obama in Washington in the coming weeks, before the Obama-Netanyahu talks.
Jordan’s King Abdullah, when he meets Mr Obama this month, will urge Washington to push the Arab peace initiative which calls for Arab recognition of the Jewish state in return for full Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories.
Reuters adds: Egyptian police have detained a man who they say was transporting $2 million (€1.5 million) to north Sinai to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip to Islamist group Hamas, security sources said on Saturday. The man, Hassan Mohamed Hassouna, was detained in Cairo with his driver and eight-year-old son.
Egypt is eager to show it is doing all it can to stop cash or aid reaching Hamas, which is at odds with Fatah, the rival movement that holds sway in the West Bank. Egyptian authorities regularly stop Hamas officials from bringing large sums of money into Gaza.