Israel and the Palestinians appear to be drawing closer to the negotiations table, during the US secretary of state’s sixth visit to the region since taking office earlier this year. According to a Lebanese report, the Palestinians were leaning toward announcing Thursday that they’re ready to resume talks with Israel.
Gaps between the Israeli and Palestinian positions have narrowed substantially after US Secretary of State John Kerry met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday in Jordan, a senior Palestinian Authority official told the newspaper Al-Mustaqbal. The official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a partial settlement freeze and is willing to negotiate on the basis of the 1967 lines. The freeze would not apply to Jerusalem and the major settlement blocs, the report said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, says goodbye to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after their second meeting in Amman, Jordan, on Saturday, June 29 (photo credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
Gaps between the Israeli and Palestinian positions have narrowed substantially after US Secretary of State John Kerry met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday in Jordan, a senior Palestinian Authority official told the newspaper Al-Mustaqbal. The official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a partial settlement freeze and is willing to negotiate on the basis of the 1967 lines. The freeze would not apply to Jerusalem and the major settlement blocs, the report said.
Abbas was to present Kerry’s outline for the talks to the PLO leadership in Ramallah on Thursday. The senior Palestinian official said there was a very good chance the plan would be approved. Kerry has been spearheading an intensive American effort to revive peace talks, which last broke down in 2010.
Thus far, Abbas has refused to negotiate unless Israel halts all construction in West Bank settlements, which it last did in 2009. Recently, Israel has rejected Palestinian demands for a blanket freeze, saying negotiations should resume without the imposition of Palestinian preconditions. Kerry has offered the Palestinians a package of economic incentives worth $4 billion to restart the talks.
Reportedly, the US upped pressure on the Palestinians to agree to talks during the five-hour dinner meeting, with Kerry threatening to hold up American economic aid to the PA if Abbas continued to refuse to come to the table. He also demanded a yes or no answer from Abbas as to whether he would negotiate with Netanyahu when all the outstanding issues are up for discussion, while informing him that the Israeli prime minister had agreed to negotiate over the 1967 lines, and would announce this publicly.
In addition, it is likely that the Palestinians will commit to not taking action against Israel at the United Nations, while Israel will release dozens of prisoners incarcerated before the Oslo Accords in 1993, many of whom have blood on their hands.
“When this process started several months ago, there were very wide gaps, very significant gaps between the two sides,” Kerry said in Jordan. “Through hard and deliberate, patient work, and most importantly through quiet work we have been able to narrow those gaps very significantly.”
“We continue to get closer and I continue to remain hopeful that the sides will soon be able to come to sit at the same table,” he said. “There are still some elements, some language that needs to be agreed upon and worked out. This is normal.”
While in Jordan, Kerry also met with representatives of the Arab League and nine of its members who support a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia. Kerry won Arab League backing for his effort to restart talks, raising hopes for a resumption of the stalled negotiations.
Kerry himself said significant progress had been made in narrowing gaps between the two sides but declined to elaborate. In a statement released after the meeting, the Arab delegates said they supported Kerry’s initiative.
“The Arab delegates believe Kerry’s ideas proposed to the committee today constitute a good basis and suitable environment for restarting the negotiations, especially the new and important political, economic and security elements,” the statement said.
The statement was significant because it could give Abbas the political cover he would need to sell a return to negotiations to a skeptical Palestinian public.
“Israel needs to look hard at this initiative, which promises Israel peace with 22 Arab nations and 35 Muslim nations — a total of 57 nations that are standing and waiting for the possibility of making peace with Israel,” Kerry said from Amman.
Indications of a return to negotiations come against the backdrop of new pressure on Israel over its settlements. The European Union issued a new directive, made public Tuesday, that denies European funding to, and cooperation with, Israeli institutions based or operating over the Green Line, and stipulates that all future agreements between Israel and the EU to include a clause in which Israel accepts the European Union’s position that all territory over the Green Line does not belong to Israel.
By LAZAR BERMAN
Times of Israel staff and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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