TruthNews

Palestinians Continue To Resist Pressure To Move To Direct Negotiations

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, 29 July 2010

American pressure continues to mount on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to move to direct negotiations, but the PA continue to demand Israeli concessions before moving on from proximity talks and Israeli officials have hinted that they are losing patience, even as they continue to insist on a desire to move to direct talks.

"The proximity talks have not achieved anything," a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. "Without progress we can’t move to direct negotiations. (Abbas) needs the backing of the Arab League in the face of growing pressure from the US administration. We will go to direct talks only if the Arab League says it’s okay."

The European Union weighed in on Wednesday, urging Abbas to enter direct talks while also assuring him that he would have European support for many of his positions, with EU foreign affairs chief issuing a call on Wednesday for "direct peace talks leading to a settlement on the basis of a two-state solution, negotiated between the parties within 24 months."

Abbas was in Cairo Wednesday and Thursday to attend a special meeting of Arab League (AL) foreign ministers. While there, he was expected to seek support for his position of not entering into direct talks until Israel makes a commitment to borders for a future Palestinian State based on the June 4, 1967, lines and halts all construction in the West Bank, including in the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

"Abbas will tell them that, until this moment, there is nothing to convince us to go to direct talks," a PA official told Reuters. "There is nothing new."

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded to Abbas’s reported position on Wednesday by saying that "Our position from the first days of this government was that we must start immediately from day one with direct talks without preconditions, with everything open to discussions and every side putting its agenda and vision on the table. But it is impossible in advance to agree to a specific agenda on the 1967 lines, settlements or refugees. There is no place for any link between direct talks and continuation of the moratorium in the settlements. They are two separate issues."

In related news, the Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday that a group of Palestinian businessmen in the Gaza Strip have decided to invest $20 million in new seaside and tourist resorts in the supposedly impoverished Hamas ruled enclave. The resorts, which are seeing large numbers of visitors, include water parks, beaches and playgrounds for children. The boom in investment in entertainment comes as a result of the smuggling tunnels becoming too risky an investment following a harsh crackdown by Israeli and Egyptian police and the opening of Gaza’s regular border crossings following the May 31 Mavi Marmara flotilla incident.

"Many investors now prefer to put their money in businesses that are safe and more profitable than the underground tunnels," said economist Mueen Rajab. "Most of the money is now being invested in vehicles, restaurants, supermarkets, boutiques and stores for electrical appliances."