Abbas: Palestinians ready to resume peace talks with Israel
Egypt steps up pressure on Abbas to revive peace process
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations in New York, U.S., February 11, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON)
The Palestinians are ready to return to the negotiating table with Israel under the auspices of the Quartet, which consists of the US, United Nations, Russia and European Union, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday.Abbas told visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González during a meeting in his office in Ramallah that the negotiations should be based on “international legitimacy resolutions,” a reference to UN resolutions pertaining to the Israeli-Arab conflict.Abbas’s statement came amid reports that Egypt has been exerting pressure on the Palestinian leadership to renew the peace talks with Israel.The Egyptian envoy to Ramallah, Tarek Tayel, met in the past week with a number of senior Palestinian officials in the context of Cairo’s efforts to resume the peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.The Egyptian envoy told the Palestinian officials that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was determined to see the Palestinians and Israel return to the negotiating table in the coming weeks, Palestinian sources said.The sources noted that Abbas, who visited Cairo two weeks ago, was told by Sisi that Egypt was working to revive the peace process “on the basis of a two-state solution” shortly after US President-elect Joe Biden assumes office.At the meeting in Ramallah, Abbas briefed the Spanish foreign minister on the latest developments in the Palestinian arena and thanked Spain for its support for achieving peace in the region.Abbas pointed out that Spain had played a role in the Middle East peace process by hosting the Madrid Conference in 1991. Hosted by Spain and co-sponsored by the US and the Soviet Union, the Madrid Conference was an attempt by the international community to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process through negotiations.The Spanish foreign minister delivered to Abbas a letter from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in which he “affirmed the distinguished bilateral relations between the two countries and his country’s keenness to strengthen them, and to continue to provide support to the political process based on the principle of the two-state solution,” according to the PA’s official news agency WAFA.González “affirmed her country’s support of achieving peace on the principle of the two-state solution and international law, noting that Spain will continue to support the Palestinian people to build the institutions of the Palestinian state,” the agency said.González also met in Ramallah with PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki and discussed with him ways of resuming the Israeli-Palestinian peace process on the basis of the two-state solution. After the meeting, she told reporters that Spain has decided to provide $5 million in urgent aid to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
