Abbas still waits word on details of Kerry's framework proposal

In a letter to Arab league Secretary-General Nabil Elarabi, Abbas said that Kerry was trying to reach a framework agreement of understandings and not an interim or final solution.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
John Kerry and Mahmoud Abbas. (photo credit: Reuters)
John Kerry and Mahmoud Abbas.
(photo credit: Reuters)
US Secretary of State John Kerry still hasn’t presented the Palestinian Authority with a final draft of a framework agreement with Israel, PA President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying Monday.
In a letter to Arab league Secretary-General Nabil Elarabi, Abbas said that Kerry was trying to reach a framework agreement of understandings and not an interim or final solution.
Abbas’s letter was relayed to Elarabi by Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a senior aide to the PA president.
Abdel Rahim said that Abbas’s letter surveyed the latest developments concerning Kerry’s ongoing mission in the region.
The Palestinians, Abdel Rahim said, were pinning high hopes that the relentless efforts of Kerry would lead to the implementation of previous understandings.
“Apparently pressure from (Prime Minister Binyamin) Netanyahu and the intransigence of the Israeli government have led to a compromise, which may take years to implement,” the PA official said after delivering the letter from Abbas.
The “compromise” he was referring to is apparently related to the talk about a new framework agreement, which Kerry is said to have proposed to Israel and the Palestinians.
“The agreement has not been presented to us in its final draft,” Abdel Rahim said. “It’s still under consultations and we are talking about foggy and unspecified ideas.”
Elarabi told the PA official that US Middle East envoy Martin Indyk was expected to visit Cairo on Tuesday to brief him on the latest developments surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
“The Palestinian-Israeli track does not need a new framework agreement of understandings,” Abdel Rahim added. “There are old and several understandings such as the Oslo Accords, the Road Map and the Annapolis Conference. We want practical solutions and not additional understandings over which we would have to negotiate for years.”
He said that the Palestinians remain committed to negotiating with Israel until the end of the nine-month timetable set by Kerry and which expires in April. “After that, we will go to the UN organizations (to seek recognition of a Palestinian state) if there are no (Israeli) withdrawals.”