(Haaretz). Just days after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama in New York, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he saw no common ground on which to renew peace negotiations.
In an interview with the Al-Hayyat daily, Abbas called the Netanyahu government "a real problem." The Palestinian leader added that he could not agree to Israel's compromise for a partial settlement freeze, which he said inherently implied continued construction.
Abbas reiterated his stance that peace negotiations must resume from where former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government left off and insisted they include the core issues. Some stride was made during talks with the Olmert government, said Abbas, adding: "There were maps drafted by both sides and proposals for territorial exchanges, and thus we cannot return to point zerio."
When asked whether he saw fundamental differences between the Palestinians and the Israelis which might stall negotiations even further, Abbas responded: "The Netanyahu government is a real problem and there is no common ground for negotiations with it. Construction in the settlement is continuing, Netanyahu is declaring Jerusalem and [Palestinian] refugees topics not up for negotiations, so what is there to talk about?"
PA stands firm on settlement freeze, despite Obama speech Senior Palestinian Authority officials had mixed reactions to U.S. Obama's remarks to the UN General Assembly Wednesday on achieving a comprehensive settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Abbas and members of the Palestinian delegation to the UN were pleased with Obama's statement that Washington is pursuing a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, as Abbas has that diplomatic talks with Israel with Israel cannot begin unless it is clear that the 1967 lines are the goal. But the officials expressed displeasure with Obama's declaration that negotiations with Israel should begin without preconditions.
