WarSclerotic

TV report: Abbas said ‘no’ to Obama on 3 core peace issues, Times of Israel, March 22, 1914

(Thus ends the “peace process?” — DM)

Rejecting Kerry framework, Palestinian leader reportedly told US president he won’t recognize ‘Jewish Israel,’ abandon ‘right of return,’ or commit to ‘end of conflict.’

US President Barack Obama, right, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hold a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Monday, March 17, 2014 (photo credit: Saul Loeb/AFP)

On his trip to Washington this week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected US Secretary of State John Kerry’s framework document for continued peace talks with Israel, and issued “three no’s” on core issues, leaving the negotiations heading for an explosive collapse, an Israeli TV report said Friday.

Abbas “went to the White House and said ‘no’ to Obama,” Channel 2 news reported, quoting unnamed American and Israeli sources.

Specifically, the report said, Abbas rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand that he recognize Israel as a Jewish state. He also refused to abandon the Palestinian demand for a “right of return” for millions of Palestinians and their descendants — a demand that, if implemented, would drastically alter Israel’s demographic balance and which no conceivable Israeli government would accept. And finally, he refused to commit to an “end of conflict,” under which a peace deal would represent the termination of any further Palestinian demands of Israel.

Israel has indicated that it may not release a fourth and final group of Palestinian prisoners at the end of this month, as agreed to when the current talks began last July, if Abbas does not first agree to extend the talks beyond their scheduled cessation next month. Since Abbas rejected the Kerry framework for extending the talks, the TV report said, the negotiations were now heading for an “explosion.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas waves to his supporters following his trip to Washington, DC, on Thursday, March 20, 2014, in the West Bank city of Ramallah (photo credit: AFP/Abbas Nomani)

Abbas returned on Thursday from the US, having held talks with Obama on Monday, and was met at his Ramallah compound by hundreds of cheering supporters.

“We carried the deposit, and we are guarding the deposit,” Abbas told those supporters somewhat cryptically. “You know all the conditions and circumstances, and I say to you that capitulating is not a possibility.” Abbas did not specify what he meant by the “deposit.”

During Monday’s meeting in Washington, Obama told Abbas that he would have to make tough political decisions and take “risks” for peace, as would Netanyahu. Abbas, for his part, reiterated his rejection of Israel’s demand that its status as a Jewish state be enshrined in a future peace accord, asserting that previous Palestinian recognition of Israel was sufficient.

“Everyone understands the outlines of what a peace deal would look like,” Obama said, describing an agreement that reflected the pre-1967 lines with agreed land swaps.

Sitting next to the president, Abbas spoke through a translator, thanking Obama for the opportunity to come to the White House and for the “economic and political support the US is extending to the Palestinian state so it can stand on its own feet.”

He outlined the Palestinian positions for negotiations, including “working for a solution that is based on international legitimacy and also the borders — the 1967 borders — so that the Palestinians can have their own independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital and so that we can find a fair and lasting solution to the refugee problem.”

On Thursday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry notified Abbas that it is prepared to apply for full membership in international institutions if Israel fails to complete the fourth and final release of Palestinian prisoners jailed before the signing of the Oslo Accords, scheduled for March 29.

Israel agreed to release 104 such prisoners in four stages over the nine-month negotiating period, in return for a Palestinian commitment not to apply for membership in international bodies.

A number of Israeli cabinet members, including Economy Minister Naftali Bennett and Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, have publicly opposed the final release, which the Palestinians want to include 14 Israeli citizens, something Israel has rejected.

Abbas Greets Iranian People, Hopes to Strengthen Ties, Israel National News, March 21, 2014

PA Chairman congratulates the Iranian people on Nowruz, expresses his hopes that Iran-PA ties can be strengthened.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Reuters

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Friday congratulated the Iranian people on the occasion of the Nowruz holiday, the Iranian new year, wishing them continued prosperity and progress.

Abbas took advantage of the opportunity to express his hopes that the ties between the PA and Iran could be strengthened.

According to the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency, he expressed hope that the occasion would be an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and cooperation among all countries of the region, in order to serve the interests and stability of all peoples.

Abbas’s greetings to Iran came hours after Iran’s Supreme Leader denied the Holocaust.

In a speech marking Nowruz, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that “we do not know if [the Holocaust] is real or not.”

According to the Ayatollah, Europe’s criminalization of denying the Holocaust is an attack on Iranian culture.

The PA recently began to renew its ties with the regime in Tehran. This was marked by a visit to Tehran of senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub, during which Rajoub pledged to “continue the resistance” against Israel.

Due to the success of Rajoub’s trip, it was later reported that Iran intends to invite Abbas himself to visit Tehran.

Abbas’s longtime rivals in Hamas have also begun to renew their ties with Iran, which were severely damaged after Hamas supported the rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Just last week, Hamas announced renewed diplomatic relations with Iran. That announcement came as Israel revealed the contents of the Klos C weapons ship that was sent from Iran to Gaza.