Peace efforts can only resume under international mediation - Abbas

[webfact]

Peace efforts can only resume under international mediation - Abbas

By Ali Sawafta

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during the meeting of the Palestinian Central Council in the West Bank city of Ramallah January 14, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

 

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday he would only accept a broad, internationally-backed panel to broker any peace talks with Israel, but did not rule out a U.S. role in such a panel.

 

The Palestinians are seething at U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition last month of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and Abbas told a meeting of senior Palestinian officials in a speech that the move had disqualified the United States as a peacemaker.

 

Israel says it would welcome the United States as a mediator but a U.S. bid to revive negotiations, led by Trump's adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has so far shown no progress. Talks have been frozen since 2014.

 

Trump has said that achieving an agreement would be the "deal of the century" but Abbas was scathing on Sunday, saying: "The deal of the century is actually the slap of the century, and we will return it."

 

"We do not accept the United States as a mediator between us and Israel," Abbas said. "Let it be an international committee formed at an international conference comprising four or five (countries or parties). But the United States alone? No."

 

Abbas's comments were made at the start of a two-day meeting in Ramallah of the Palestinian Central Council, the Palestinians' highest decision-making body, where 95 delegates will debate future strategy.

 

"WILL NOT ACCEPT U.S. MEDIATION"

 

"We will not accept anything the United States may try to impose on us and we will not accept its mediation following that crime," said Abbas, referring to Trump's Jerusalem decision.

 

Palestinian officials have said they will not meet U.S. Vice President Mike Pence when he visits Egypt, Jordan and Israel this month.

 

Since 2002, a 'Quartet' of Middle East peace negotiators comprising the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations has been assigned to promote peace efforts, but failed to show any result.

 

Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital reversed decades of U.S. policy and has enraged Palestinians and triggered violent protests in Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

 

Israel considers Jerusalem to be its eternal, indivisible capital. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

 

Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move never recognised internationally.

 

"Jerusalem was taken off the table by a tweet from Mr. Trump. Because of that we are meeting now, because there is nothing more important than Jerusalem," Abbas said.

 

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-01-15

[IAMHERE]

There are not enough of these people to make any more effort worth while. 

[dick dasterdly]

I've no doubt that this will turn into (at best....) another Ireland problem - taking at least a couple of centuries to resolve .

[Srikcir]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Jared Kushner, has so far shown no progress.

Maybe that's best.

[mrwebb8825]

A lot of hot air from a people with NO country in the first place. It's about time somebody took a stand. Thank you President Trump for finally honoring a 40-60 yr old agreement from the US to a people who actually have a country and needed a capital. Now it's time to flush the Gaza Strip toilet and give it back to Israel. Israel should complete the settlements in the West Bank, then give the non-Israeli residents of the Gaza Strip 2 months and free shipping to move into the new settlements. Call the West Bank borders good, let them claim it as a country and build their own capital.

[Morch]

7 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

A lot of hot air from a people with NO country in the first place. It's about time somebody took a stand. Thank you President Trump for finally honoring a 40-60 yr old agreement from the US to a people who actually have a country and needed a capital. Now it's time to flush the Gaza Strip toilet and give it back to Israel. Israel should complete the settlements in the West Bank, then give the non-Israeli residents of the Gaza Strip 2 months and free shipping to move into the new settlements. Call the West Bank borders good, let them claim it as a country and build their own capital.

 

Sometimes hard to call if posters are trolling or truly ignorant.

It's one thing to hail Trump's bull in a china shop diplomacy, quite another to air the sort of nonsense assertions above about the Gaza Strip, West Bank and possible solutions to the conflict. 

[Morch]

 

More than anything the OP demonstrates once more the leadership crisis and the Palestinian inability to adopt coherent, unified and fruitful policies toward resolving the conflict and improving their situation.

 

Bluster aside, Abbas got nothing to sell - the Palestinians are still divided, still dependent on foreign aid (a significant part of comes from the US), and are out of step with regional developments.

 

The OP is a pale version of what was actually said, and the English versions available mostly skip over the more inflammatory bits in the original. If Abbas wanted to paint himself, once more, as a rejecitonist conspiracy theorist - mission accomplished.

 

But as usual, a whole lot of words which falling short of actually cutting them essential cords - Abbas cannot sustain his rule without US financial support or the ongoing security cooperation with Israel. Anything which outright contradicts previous agreements may result in EU funds being withheld as well. There isn't all that much international jostling to replace the US in the lead of peace efforts (such as they are), there is no obvious country with a similar clout.

 

 

[mrwebb8825]

16 hours ago, Morch said:

 

Sometimes hard to call if posters are trolling or truly ignorant.

It's one thing to hail Trump's bull in a china shop diplomacy, quite another to air the sort of nonsense assertions above about the Gaza Strip, West Bank and possible solutions to the conflict. 

It's nonsense because you don't think that. They want a country, give them the West Bank. There's no logical reason in the world to give them 2 seperate sections Of Israel.

[Morch]

7 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

It's nonsense because you don't think that. They want a country, give them the West Bank. There's no logical reason in the world to give them 2 seperate sections Of Israel.

 

What you're on about is disconnected from the reality of the conflict, the positions of involved sides and the realm of possibility. It has nothing to do with what I personally think about it. For example, the West Bank is not a "section of Israel" and the same goes for the Gaza Strip. Hard to address claims regarding "logical reasons" when facts are not adhered to.

[mrwebb8825]

16 hours ago, Morch said:

 

What you're on about is disconnected from the reality of the conflict, the positions of involved sides and the realm of possibility. It has nothing to do with what I personally think about it. For example, the West Bank is not a "section of Israel" and the same goes for the Gaza Strip. Hard to address claims regarding "logical reasons" when facts are not adhered to.

Looks like they're both inside the lines of the borders of Israel to me.

https://www.google.co.th/maps/@31.3867115,32.8380848,7z

 

[Morch]

 

@mrwebb8825

 

As said, sometimes hard to tell if posters are trolling, being intentionally obtuse or actually not having a clue.