Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed his disappointment regarding American President Barack Obama’s performance. Abbas also blames Obama for obstructing the already stalled peace process since he decided not to make firm demands for Israel to freeze all settlement building in the West Bank.
Abbas added he was also let down by the American president, citing that he was expecting Washington to take some very important steps. The Palestinian president also accused his American counterpart of flip-flopping, saying he has gone astray from his original position of condemning illegal Israeli construction projects in the West Bank. All of this is coming at a time when Azam al-Ahmad, Deputy of the Central Committee of Fatah, is denying the validity of an article published yesterday in Ha’aretz, an Israeli newspaper, stating Abu Mazen’s approval of the American-backed plan for Fatah to hold indirect negotiations with Israel.
In his statement, broadcast on ‘the Sound of Palestine’ during a phone call from Tokyo, where he was accompanying the Palestinian president, al-Ahmad said that what the Israeli newspaper published concerning Abbas’s position on indirect negotiations was absolutely false.
al-Ahmad also added that there are currently a number of questions for the American delegation regarding the suggestion of indirect negotiations to deal with the peace process, including desired borders for the Palestinian State, the settlements and what will be the American stance in case of a failure to reach an agreement. However, the Palestinian administration has yet to get a response from America.
He continued, saying, “We told our Arab brethren about all of these issues. Abu Mazen met with President Hosni Mubark in Cairo and, before that, discussed the issues at hand with the Jordanians. The General Secretary of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, also spread this information with an official letter sent to the Foreign Ministers of the member countries represented in the Arab Follow-Up Committee. There is also a Palestinian suggestion asking the Follow-Up Committee to analyze the [American] responses and to reach a general Arab position.”
Ha’aretz quoted Israeli sources saying that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed in principal with the American suggestion of holding indirect negotiations with Israel through the American Envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. The newspaper also quoted anonymous Palestinian sources saying that Abbas plans to clarify a number of points with the American administration, as well as to consult with Arab leaders before reaching a final answer to give Washington.
Ha’aretz quoted two anonymous high-ranking Israeli officials saying the Prime Minister of Israel, Benyamin Netanyahu, thinks negotiations will begin around the end of February and will end with the resumption of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
On the other hand, Khalid Mashaal, President of the Political Office of Hamas, met yesterday in Moscow with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and conducted negotiations concerning reconciliation efforts between Fatah and Hamas.
Lavrov said to journalists covering the meeting that the main goal was to build on the effort already in play by Egypt to achieve Palestinian unity.
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