Palestinians rebuff Netanyahu call to resume peace talks

The Palestinians Thursday spurned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest invitation to resume peace talks, insisting the Israelis freeze settlement construction first. Netanyahu Wednesday proposed to start direct talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, without any preconditions. The call followed an appeal from international mediators. Negotiations broke down in late 2010 over the issue of settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas claimed by the Palestinians as parts of their future state. Abbas’ spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said Thursday that Abbas is ready for talks only if Israel halts settlement construction and accepts its 1967 boundaries as the basis for negotiations. Otherwise, he says, any negotiations will “waste time.” Netanyahu has repeatedly refused to halt settlement construction as a precondition to talks. Israel illegally captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, territories in 1967. Israel and the Palestinians launched a low-level dialogue early this year, but failed to find a formula to resume formal peace talks. Netanyahu is set to meet Abbas’ prime minister, Salam Fayyad Tuesday. Fayyad is expected to present a letter with the Palestinian conditions for resuming talks. Officials have said they do not expect any breakthroughs. Palestinians officials Thursday expressed frustration over the peace Quartet’s latest statement and insisted the settlement issue was central to resolving the conflict with Israel. Top officials from the Middle East Quartet, representing the European Union, United States, Russia and United Nations, met Wednesday in Washington to address ways of hauling the two parties back to direct talks which ran aground 18 months ago. But the meeting ended with a bland statement urging both sides to focus on “positive efforts” to bring about a resumption of direct talks. Speaking to AFP, senior Palestinian official Nimr Hammad said the statement should have been “stronger and more assertive.” “They know that the main obstacle facing peace in our region is settlement activity,” said Hammad, who is political adviser to Abbas. “Israel has ignored all previous Quartet statements and the Quartet is aware of that, but asking the Palestinian side to get back to negotiations isn’t leading to a solution and peace in the region,” he said. “What we need is to clearly ask Israel to stop its settlements which are the obstacle to negotiations and regional peace.” Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi took a much harder line, saying the Quartet statement, which made no reference to Israel’s ongoing occupation of the territories, demonstrated “a lack of will” to establish a Palestinian state. “Unfortunately, the Quartet did not propose any specific policy measures or means of engagement required to create a breakthrough in the current crisis,” she said in a statement. “The real issue is not ‘negotiations’ but rather ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land,” Ashrawi said. “The glaring absence of any reference to this occupation portrays a lack of will to bring an end to it and to establish a viable Palestinian state.” The statement made only a passing mention of “continued settlement activity” at the very end of the document. The Quartet stressed the need for continued international support for the Palestinian Authority’s institution-building efforts, and called on donors “to ensure the contribution of $1.1 billion in assistance” to meet the PA’s 2012 financing needs. Although the call for funds to support the PA was welcome, it was political support that the Palestinians needed most, Hammad said. “Economic support for the Palestinian people is important but political positions supporting its rights, the integrity of the two-state solution and stopping treating Israel as a state above the law, is more important,” he said.