Abbas Announces Going to Direct Negotiations, Khuraisha Describes it as Political Suicide

Abbas Announces Going to Direct Negotiations,

Khuraisha Describes it as Political Suicide

Abbas: We will go to direct negotiations even it has 1% chance of success

[ 27/08/2010 - 11:39 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

(Palestinian Authority President) Mahmoud Abbas, the Fat'h leader in the West Bank, has said Thursday he would go for direct negotiations with the Israeli occupation even it has a 1% chance of success.

Abbas's remarks came despite the statements of Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister of the Israeli occupation, ruling out any possibility of achieving peace with the Palestinians within the one year specified by the US administration.

"I think we have to be pragmatic enough to lower the level of expectations regarding the success of the negotiations with the Palestinians… we have no magic prescription, and I don’t believe that we could achieve a lasting peace and leads to solving all the crucial issue like Jerusalem, the refugees, and the Israeli settlements within one year", underlined Lieberman in press statements he made earlier.

He also voiced his full confidence that the Israeli cabinet won't extend the freeze on settlement building in the West Bank that, he said, was approved by the Netanyahu government under pressure from the US administration to convince the Palestinians to go for direct negotiations.

He also disclosed that 1,600 settlements units obtained all the necessary approvals and were ready for construction once the deadline for the freeze expires next September.

Abbas, for his part, said that he and his team in the West Bank would go for the direct negotiations with the Israelis, saying, "If there is a 1% chance of success for the direct negotiations we would go for it and with full conviction because we want peace with our neighbors".

A couple of days ago, the armed militia of Abbas in the West Bank violently quelled a gathering organized by Palestinian factions opposing going to the direct negotiations.

Khuraisha: Abbas's position on direct talks is political suicide

[ 28/08/2010 - 10:55 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

Second deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Hassan Khuraisha stated that the decision taken by de facto president Mahmoud Abbas to engage in direct negotiations with Israelis is political suicide and a victory for premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a press statement on Friday, Khuraisha stressed that Abbas's authority accepted to enter into negotiations because of US-Israeli pressures and to save its existence, although it is fully aware that it would take nothing from its talks with Israelis.

He expressed his strong belief that the direct talks would miserably fail especially after Netanyahu imposed his conditions on the international quartet and Abbas, noting that the Israeli government is composed of rightist parties considering the killing of Palestinians legitimate.

The lawmaker underlined that Abbas pursues the principle of "the financer is the one who decides" in his negotiation policy, pointing out that US envoy George Mitchell linked any financial aid given to the Palestinian Authority (PA) to achieving progress in its talks with Israelis.

The lawmaker also accused the Palestinian factions of the Palestine liberation organization (PLO), which claim to oppose the direct talks, of lying to their people, asserting that leaders of these factions agree on something in their closed meeting and declare something else through the media because their interests are associated with the PA's and they are afraid to lose their financial privileges.

For his part, member of Hamas's political bureau Khalil Al-Hayya stated that Abbas's negotiations would provide the Israeli occupation with a cover to liquidate the reminder of the Palestinian cause and its constants.

Al-Hayyal added, in a ceremony organized Friday evening in Gaza for the support of the Aqsa Mosque, that Abbas and his entourage do not represent the Palestinian people and refugees, and warned the negotiators of making any concessions on behalf of the Palestinians.

In the same context, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu told the American administration that he wants to hold bilateral meetings with Abbas once every two weeks in an effort to reach understandings on various fundamental issues, according to the Hebrew radio on Friday.

Netanyahu started Thursday to select members of his negotiation team, according to a statement issued by his office. The team will be led by his representative and lawyer Yitzhak Molsho, who was designated a few months ago to coordinate with Washington regarding the restart of the direct talks with Abbas.

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