Palestinians outline terms for direct talks

THE PALESTINIAN Authority is waiting to see if Israel is serious about negotiations before agreeing to direct talks.

Spokesman for the authority, Dr Ghassan Khatib said yesterday: “There has to be justification for moving from indirect to direct talks.

“We have negotiated directly for 18 years but Israel has shown no readiness to end the occupation. During five rounds of indirect talks, [US envoy George] Mitchell received full negotiating proposals from the Palestinian side on borders and security – the two issues he set [for these talks].

“But he has received nothing from the other side. Mitchell has not said if he has received proposals, but if he had, he should have conveyed them to us.”

Dr Khatib said Israel had also not responded to a list of suggested confidence-building measures proposed by prime minister Salam Fayyad during a meeting with Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak last Monday.

These include an end to the Gaza blockade, halting Israeli raids on West Bank cities and towns and releasing prisoners.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s executive committee, accused Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu of focusing on the image he is trying to project to the “ignorant US media and public, rather than dealing with the substance of negotiations”.

He said the form talks take does not matter as long as there is progress.

Tuesday’s summit between Mr Netanyahu and US president Barack Obama concluded with a call by Mr Obama to open direct talks before the end of Israel’s partial settlement construction freeze on September 26th.

There is concern among Palestinian policymakers that Mr Obama’s deadline is intended to put pressure on the Palestinians to agree to direct talks or face a resumption of settlement expansion on land Palestinians demand for their state. Proximity talks are also set to end in September.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, said on Wednesday he needed to know the basis on which Israel would negotiate [and] the borders it would discuss.

“Once Mr Abbas has Israel’s reaction to Palestinian proposals submitted to Mr Mitchell on these issues, the Palestinian Authority will submit Israel’s response to the Arab [League’s] follow-up committee before declaring its stance,” he said.

The authority agreed to proximity talks only after the Arab League gave its approval. This was because Mr Abbas had been holding out for a full settlement freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem before holding any negotiations, direct or indirect, with Israel.

Yesterday Mr Netanyahu signalled he would not extend beyond September a 10-month moratorium on new housing starts in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. “I think we’ve done enough. Lets get on with the talks,” he said, when asked in an appearance at the council on foreign relations whether he would extend the limited freeze he put in place to coax the Palestinians into peace negotiations.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said: “Netanyahu must decide if he wants peace or settlements. He cannot have both.” He also said that negotiations had to resume at the point where they were broken off in December 2008 when Israel launched its war on Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian government called on the US to end tax breaks for groups and individuals financing Israeli settlements. Such breaks have cost the US treasury $200 million (€158 million) over the past 10 years.

Dr Khatib said: “It simply makes no sense that, on one hand, the [US] government says the settlements are one of the primary obstacles to peace and, on the other, allows tax credits for funding the settlements.”