Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad expressed optimism about the prospects of a peace agreement with Israel, saying that "it is possible to get this process to move forward as long as there is a dialogue on the core issues," in a Channel Two interview aired on Saturday.
In the interview, which took place at the Saban Forum in Washington DC, Fayyad stated that "we can take advantage of the opportunity to get a serious political process going between the sides, as long as we discuss issues of substance."
RELATED:Bolivia joins neighbors in recognizing Palestinian statePA steps up criticism of US ‘pro-Israel bias’Clinton's speech: Time to grapple with the core issuesFayyad explained he was optimistic that a Palestinian state could be established by August 2011.
"In the past too much time was wasted on the process, but we should not be discouraged because we have failed before, we should not give up," he said.
"We are looking for a state of Palestine, not a unilateral declaration of statehood," he said.
He said that the Palestinians have "demonstrated our position to the
Americans on the permanent status issues, and I believe the Israelis
need to do the same" if the peace process is to move forward.
This statement came after earlier this week the
PA urged the EU to recognize a Palestinian
state. This move also follows the
recognition of a Palestinian state
with 1967 borders by several South American countries.
Asked if the Palestinian people would support a peace agreement Fayyad
said that "there has been a fundamental change in the mindset of the
Palestinians" and that the Palestinian people are "fully committed to
non-violence."
Fayyad concluded that "I think its time for the expectations to be set
high" and that "we have to believe that this can happen in order for it
to happen."
Meanwhile, after the failure of direct peace talks,
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell was in the region to try and encourage indirect proximity peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.