Palestinian groups campaign against the peace process

Organizers call on PA leadership to "succumb to popular demands."

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. (photo credit: REUTERS/ISSAM RIMAWI/POOL)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
(photo credit: REUTERS/ISSAM RIMAWI/POOL)
Several Palestinian groups and figures launched a campaign on Sunday to demand that the Palestinian Authority halt peace talks with Israel.
At a press conference in Ramallah, the organizers of the campaign said that the PA leadership should “give in to popular demands to stop the negotiations with the government of [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu.”
The call for halting the peace talks came as PA President Mahmoud Abbas was preparing to meet with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on Tuesday.
Abbas is expected to brief Obama on the outcome of the talks, a PA official in Ramallah said.
According to the official, Abbas will complain to Obama about continued construction in the settlements and plans to build new housing units in some east Jerusalem neighborhoods.
“President Abbas will make it clear that Israel’s policies are jeopardizing the peace talks,” the official said.
The organizers of the new campaign said that the PA leadership should abandon the talks in favor of “reorganizing the Palestinian home, and completing efforts to see Palestinian membership in the UN.”
They also signed a petition rejecting the idea of any land swaps with Israel and the annexation of settlement blocs, including east Jerusalem, to Israel in a future deal.
The campaign is being waged by various Palestinian groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestinian People’s Party, The National Initiative, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian Democratic Union, as well as several Palestinian political figures.