Israeli PM willing to hold talks with Abbas in Ramallah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to travel to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli PM met Monday evening with the visiting US congressmen, where he stressed the importance of a US veto against Palestinian statehood bid at UN, Jerusalem Post said. According to sources attended the meeting, Jerusalem Post said that the visiting delegation of 27 Republican congressmen who spoke with Netanyahu are among a group of 81 lawmakers who are visiting Israel this month, in three separate trips organized by the American Israel Education Foundation, part of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The congressmen asked Netanyahu if he had a message for Abbas, who they plan to meet with later this week, it said. Netanyahu suggested they ask the Palestinian leader two questions: The first involved Abbass refusal to negotiate with Israel until it halts Jewish construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. "Ask him, why dont you come and negotiate with Israel,"Netanyahu said. "I am willing to immediately start direct negotiations with him without preconditions. I am willing to invite him to my house in Jerusalem and I am willing to go to Ramallah," Jerusalem post said quoted Netanyahu. He joked that a Ramallah trip would drive his security detail crazy, it said. "They wont be happy," he added. The second question, he told the congressmen, involves Israels identity as a Jewish state. "Ask Abu Mazen why he refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish state. I have recognized a Palestinian state, he Abbas should be able to recognize a Jewish state," Netanyahu said, according to the source. He spoke with the lawmakers about the importance of a US veto against the anticipated Palestinian bid for unilateral statehood at the United Nations Security Council in September. The US is one of five countries out of the 15 - member body, that can veto the Palestinian statehood bid. Furthermore, the Jerusalem Post said that Netanyahu told the US lawmakers that a UN vote in favor of Palestinian statehood would harden the Palestinian position for years and make it extremely difficult to negotiate a peace agreement. Security arrangements have to be built into a final status agreement, so that Israel remains secure if the peace unravels. The agreement, he said, must be phased and contain certain safeguards, it added.