The Palestinian Authority reiterated Sunday its refusal to return to the
negotiating table unless Israel stopped settlement construction and released
Palestinian prisoners.
In response to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s
call for reviving stalled peace talks with the PA, chief PLO negotiator Saeb
Erekat said that the Palestinians were not setting conditions for returning to
the negotiating table.
“These are not Palestinian conditions, but
obligations that Israel is required to fulfill,” Erekat said. He said that there
would be no EU initiative to resume the peace talks without US
involvement.
Erekat called on the administration of US President Barack
Obama to “stop treating Israel as if it were a country above the
law.”
The Palestinians, he added, would not “repeat the lunacy of
returning to the negotiations while Israel is not fulfilling its
obligations.”
Erekat said that the PA leadership remained committed to
peace and negotiations and accused Israel of “choosing settlements and dictates
and abandoning the peace process.”
Meanwhile, PA President Mahmoud Abbas
met in his office in Ramallah on Sunday with families of Palestinian prisoners
who are on hunger strike in Israeli prisons.
Abbas held the Israeli
government responsible for the well-being of the striking prisoners and called
for their immediate release, according to a statement published by his office.