'Battle of letters’ shaping up between PM, Abbas
04/04/2012 06:04
Netanyahu prepares diplomatic missive for Abbas, who is expected to deliver letter blaming Israel for peace impasse.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and PA President Abbas Photo: Jason Reed / Reuters
With Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas expected to deliver a
sharply-worded letter to Israel in the coming days, blaming it for the impasse in
the diplomatic process, Jerusalem is preparing a letter of its own to present to
the PA, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
Though the final draft of the
letter has not yet been completed, it is expected to contain the following
points:
• Israel is prepared for peace talks with the Palestinians where all the
core issues will be on the agenda.
• Israel places no preconditions
whatsoever on entering the talks.
• An agreement reached must contain
Palestinian recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and
include effective security arrangements.
Drafting of the letter comes as
Abbas has been threatening for days to send his own letter to Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu. Earlier this week in Cairo he said the PA leadership wrote
to Netanyahu, “You have made the PA a non-authority. You have taken away
from the PA all its commitments and what it was doing and
supervising. Now we have been left with nothing.”
Netanyahu,
speaking at a press conference Tuesday, denied reports that he had refused to
see a Palestinian delegation dispatched to bring him the letter.
“I will
be pleased to receive a letter from Abu Mazen [Abbas],” he said. “I intend to
relate to that letter, I think that is important.”
This “battle of the
letters” is taking place a week before the Quartet – made up of the US, EU,
Russia and the UN – is scheduled to meet in New York.
Netanyahu said at
the press conference that marked the three-year anniversary of his government
that he wanted to negotiate with the Palestinians from the first day he took
office “because I don’t know any other way to solve the
problem.”
Netanyahu said bluntly that he wanted to solve the conflict
because “I don’t want a binational state.”
However, he also said that he
needed to ensure the existence of the Jewish state, and this was “not only an
issue of separation, but also an issue of security, defensible borders and
preserving Israel’s essential interests.”
That, he said, was something
that necessitated negotiation.
“There is no way to conclude negotiations
if you don’t start them, and until this time the Palestinians have chosen not to
conduct negotiations,” he said.
“I hope they will change that position in
coming months. We are willing.”