Abbas: Peace talks will begin soon

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said negotiations with Israel would begin soon, stressing that Palestinian values would not be compromised. Palestinians are committed to their national cause, the president said, as he a wreath on the tomb of his predecessor Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. Abbas said Palestinians would continue to press for their rights during talks, including the right to call east Jerusalem the capital a future state. The Palestinian president furthermore said that Palestinian prisoners, who were detained and sentenced before the signing of the Oslo peace agreement in 1993, will soon be gradually released from Israeli prisons. “By releasing those prisoners, their tragedy, which lasted for a long time, will end. We exerted a tremendous effort in order to achieve this goal," Abbas said. He expressed hope that the next Eid al-Fitr feast would be celebrated "under an independent and sovereign Palestinian state."