MKs plan meeting with Abbas to solve breakdown in talks on their own
The Labor MK will choose the legislators joining him on the meeting by Monday and plans to include members of the coalition and opposition.
By LAHAV HARKOVLabor Party MK Hilik Bar 370(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Peace talks may be in a crisis, but Labor MK Hilik Bar is still keeping constant contact with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and plans to visit him in Ramallah on Wednesday.Bar, chairman of the Caucus to Solve the Israeli-Arab Conflict, will be joined by several other lawmakers from the caucus to directly discuss with Abbas ways they can help stop the breakdown of the latest round of negotiations.The Labor MK will choose the legislators joining him on the meeting by Monday and plans to include members of the coalition and opposition.“The purpose of the meeting on Wednesday is so we Knesset members, without mediators, can hear the Palestinian view on the crisis in negotiations and ways to solve it,” Bar said. “We ask to examine how we, as MKs, can help in this critical mission of renewing talks and giving another chance to the peace process between us and the Palestinians.”Bar said that, like in the Passover story, ending the conflict would be like going from slavery to freedom for Israel.Should there be peace, “we have the potential to move endless resources that go to the conflict and security to other areas of life like housing, health, welfare and education. That is true freedom and we will help promote that goal in any way we can,” he said.Bar led two delegations to Ramallah in the last year – one of MKs and another of Israeli students.
