The Palestinian Authority is also expecting a package of incentives from the US
in return for resuming peace talks with Israel, Palestinian sources said on
Monday.
The US has offered such a package to Israel in return for a
90-day settlement freeze. That one would likely include using its veto power in
the UN against unilateral moves to declare a Palestinian state, and eventually
providing 20 additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets. The terms have not been
finalized and the security cabinet has yet to vote on the
proposal.
RELATED:US refuses to confirm offer of 20 F-35 fighter jetsLikud rebels cast doubt on US pledges, warn of party splitPA surprised, disappointed at US 90-day freeze proposal'Fatah says Hamas not serious about reconciliation talks'According to the Palestinian sources, the PA wants additional
financial aid and a promise from Washington to intervene in the direct
negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel to reach a peace agreement
within one year.
The PA is also hoping that the US package of incentives
would include a “political commitment” that an agreement would be reached on the
borders of a Palestinian state within three months, the sources told the
London-based
Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.
In addition, the PA wants a US
commitment to solve the issue of the Palestinian refugees and compensate them
through an international fund that would involve most countries in the region,
including Israel.
However, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said he was
unaware of such a request by the PA.
Erekat warned that the PLO could not
remain committed to peace talks with Israel indefinitely. He accused Israel of using the negotiations as a “cover for
its practices, which are designed to undermine the twostate solution and make it
impossible to achieve.”
Erekat said Israel was still refusing to
recognize the Palestinians’ right to establish an independent state on the June
4, 1967, lines with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The Palestinians, he
stressed, would not relinquish their right to achieve their goal – namely to
achieve liberty and establish an independent Palestinian state with east
Jerusalem as its capital, solve the issue of the refugees on the basis of UN
General Assembly Resolution 194 and release all prisoners held in Israeli jails
– no matter how long it took.
Erekat hinted that the Palestinians would
seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state.
“The PLO and the Fatah
Central Committee cannot accept the option of allowing Israel to maintain the
status quo,” he said.
“Today Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has
begun implementing a Palestinian strategy aimed at rejecting attempts to create
new facts on the ground.”
Abbas met in Ramallah on Monday with Fatah
leaders and briefed them on the latest developments surrounding the peace
process.
He reaffirmed his commitment to work toward establishing a
Palestinian state “free of settlements” that would exist alongside Israel in
security and stability, a PA official said after the meeting. Abbas said
reconciliation with Hamas was at the top of the PA’s agenda.
