Israel has no intention of acceding to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s call for a freeze of all construction in West Bank settlements and in east Jerusalem for three months, in order to resume direct negotiations with the PA,said a senior government official said on Monday.
“We are not going to accept the Palestinian position on Jerusalem as a condition for entering the talks,” the official said.
“These are not preconditions, they are requirements in the road map,” Abbas said in a interview to the Gaurdian on Sunday.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev cautioned the Palestinians about preaching about the road map.
“The Palestinians clearly fall short of their road map obligations, most recently on the difficult issue of incitement, and they should look in the mirror before accusing others,” he said.
Regev said that for 10 months, Israel has consistently called for the resumption of diplomatic negotiations without preconditions, and has taken a whole series of confidence-building measures to make the talks possible.
“In the same period of time,” Regev remarked, “the Palestinian leadership has unfortunately and consistently refused to re-engage in a political process. One has to ask how does one expect to achieve peace without talking. We are ready to talk, we have been for the last 10 moths, and the question is, are they?”
“We are not going to accept the Palestinian position on Jerusalem as a condition for entering the talks,” the official said.
“These are not preconditions, they are requirements in the road map,” Abbas said in a interview to the Gaurdian on Sunday.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev cautioned the Palestinians about preaching about the road map.
“The Palestinians clearly fall short of their road map obligations, most recently on the difficult issue of incitement, and they should look in the mirror before accusing others,” he said.
Regev said that for 10 months, Israel has consistently called for the resumption of diplomatic negotiations without preconditions, and has taken a whole series of confidence-building measures to make the talks possible.
“In the same period of time,” Regev remarked, “the Palestinian leadership has unfortunately and consistently refused to re-engage in a political process. One has to ask how does one expect to achieve peace without talking. We are ready to talk, we have been for the last 10 moths, and the question is, are they?”
