World Jewish News

John Kerry and Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: Reuters

PA stands firm on its terms

The Palestinian Authority won’t accept any framework agreement that does not accept the Palestinian and Arab positions, which are based on international legitimacy, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said on Thursday.
Abu Rudaineh’s remarks came as PA President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Paris for the second time in 24 hours to discuss the latter’s proposed framework agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
PLO Ambassador to France Hayel Fahoum said that Kerry proposed extending the peace talks with Israel for several months.
Kerry had set nine months for the two sides to complete the peace talks.
The deadline expires in late April.
Fahoum told the Voice of Palestine radio station that Abbas did not oppose the idea of extending the peace talks, on condition that real progress is achieved.
Fahoum said that Kerry still hasn’t presented Abbas with a draft of a framework agreement. He said that the discussions focused on “certain ideas.”
Abu Rudanieh, reiterated Abbas’s “firm and permanent” position regarding any agreement with Israel, saying there would be no Palestinian state without east Jerusalem as its capital and no recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
Abbas’s positions, that all settlements are illegitimate, that a Palestinian state should be established on the pre-1967 lines, that all Palestinians be released from Israeli prisons and that the issue of the refugees be solved in a just way, were also restated.
Abu Rudaineh said that Abbas clearly relayed his position to Kerry during their discussions in Paris.
A PA official in Ramallah said that Abbas had sent two letters to US President Barack Obama since last December, outlining the Palestinian position regarding a peace agreement with Israel The official said that Abbas made it clear in his letters that the issue of the refugees should be solved on the basis of UN General Assembly Resolution 194, while granting them the right to choose whether they want to return to Israel, live in the pre-1967 lines, stay where they are today, move to another country or receive compensation.
Abbas’s letters to Obama said that Israel must withdraw from all the “1967 occupied territories in line with UN [Security Council] Resolution 242.” He also demanded the establishment of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 181, with the possibility of land swaps.
Abbas also insisted that east Jerusalem become the capital of a Palestinian state and that no settlements remain in a future Palestinian state, the official said.
Abbas did not rule out the possibility that a third party would be deployed to maintain security for Palestinians and Israelis.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

JPost.com