Israel and Palestinian negotiators fix peace talks
20 July AFP
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have laid the groundwork to
resume peace talks frozen for three years and will meet in Washington
within "the next week or so," US Secretary of State John Kerry said
After a day of dramatic diplomacy and a late afternoon helicopter dash
to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, Kerry announced a hard-won
breakthrough to get the two sides back to the negotiating table.
Both Israel and the Palestinian presidency welcomed the development,
but the Islamist Hamas movement which runs the Gaza Strip rejected a
return to talks.
Kerry's announcement came after he spent four days consulting the
Israeli and Palestinian leadership from his base in an Amman hotel.
"I am pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement that
establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations
between the Palestinians and the Israelis," he told reporters in Amman
just minutes before boarding his plane to fly home.
"This is a significant and welcome step forward," he added, having
doggedly pushed the two sides to agree to resume talks in six intense
trips to the region since becoming the top US diplomat in February.
But after a day in which the deal almost slipped away forcing him to
spendhours working the phones, the top US diplomat cautioned he would
remain tight-lipped about the details.
"I think all of us know that candid, private conversations are the
very best way to preserve the time and the space for progress and
understanding when you face difficult, complicated issues such as Middle
East peace," he said.
"The agreement is still in the process of being formalized, so we are
absolutely not going to talk about any of the elements now".
A US State Department official said: "They have agreed on the core
elements that will allow direct talks to begin".
The Israelis and Palestinians remain far apart on final status issues
including the borders of a future Palestinian state, the right of return
of Palestinian refugees, and the fate of Jerusalem which both want as a
capital.
Abbas has also repeatedly called for a freeze to Israeli settlement
building and a release of prisoners -- demands Israel has rejected.
Kerry said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and his Israeli
counterpart Tzipi Livni would meet him in Washington "to begin initial
talks within the next week or so".
The Palestinian presidency hailed Friday's development.
"Abbas's meeting with Kerry in his headquarters in Ramallah on Friday
evening achieved progress, and will facilitate an agreement on the basis
of a resumption of talks," spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
But Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, told AFP the movement
"considers the Palestinian Authority's return to negotiations with the
occupation to be at odds with the national consensus".
Its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas had no legitimate right to
negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people.
Livni, who is also Israeli justice minister, was optimistic.
"These were long months of scepticism and cynicism. But now, four
years of diplomatic stagnation are about to end," she said.
"Alongside the opportunity, I also know that the moment negotiations
start, they will be complex and not easy." Kerry's last-minute whirlwind
diplomacy came after the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah Thursday
rejected his proposals for a framework to guide the relaunch of peace
talks calling for changes to the US plan.
Talks have stuttered and started for decades in the elusive bid to
reach a final peace deal between the Arab world and Israel.
But they collapsed completely in September 2010 when Israel refused
to keep up a freeze on settlement building in Palestinian territories.
In his brief comments, Kerry praised the courage of Abbas and Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Jordan's King Abdullah II
for hosting his push for peace.
"No one believes the long-standing differences between the parties
will be resolved overnight or just wiped away. We know that the
challenges require some very tough choices in the days ahead," Kerry
said.
"The representatives of two proud people today have decided that the
difficult road ahead is worth travelling and that the daunting
challenges that we face are worth tackling," Kerry said.
"So they have courageously recognised that in order for Israelis and
Palestinians to live together side by side in peace and security, they
must begin by sitting at the table together in direct talks."
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton warmly welcomed the
agreement, adding her "great hope that we may finally see progress
towards the objectives which they share along with their friends and
allies around the world." UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on both side sides
to "show courage and responsibility" to ensure that once the talks
resume that they can be sustained. |