Abbas: Israel refused attempts to meet with Netanyahu
Date
1/23/2016 9:19:20 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that efforts to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent months had been refused by the Israeli premier's office.
Speaking to Israeli reporters in Ramallah Abbas said Netanyahu's office had cut off communication about the possibility of such a meeting.
"I was ready to meet and I appointed two people to follow up on the subject but we did not receive any Israeli response"
Abbas was quoted in Israeli media as saying.He added: "We agreed with Israel several years ago to form a joint committee to discuss and follow the incitement issue and I call on Israel to resume this committee’s work.
"Netanyahu's office later issued a statement saying the remarks were "not true" adding: "This is an attempt by Abu Mazen to evade his responsibility for the lack of negotiations.""Netanyahu again called on Abu Mazen to return to negotiations without preconditions" the statement added.
Netanyahu has said on various occasions that he is willing to engage in negotiations with his Palestinian counterpart including in September when he said: "I am ready now to go to Ramallah or any other place in order to meet and hold direct negotiations."
However Israel has repeatedly refused to accept Palestinian preconditions for negotiations including a halt to construction in Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The last peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel which were backed by the US collapsed in April 2014 after nine months of fruitless meetings.
Israel claimed the process failed because the Palestinians refused to accept a US framework document outlining the way forward while Palestinians pointed to Israel's continued settlement building and the government's refusal to release veteran prisoners.
In the run-up to the Israeli elections in March Netanyahu ruled out the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.
Although he later distanced himself from the comments a majority of his cabinet publicly opposes a Palestinian state and promotes settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu also vowed never to allow the Palestinians to establish a capital in occupied East Jerusalem and pledged to build "thousands" of settler homes in the city which are illegal under international law.
The relationship between the two sides remains severely strained prompting the Palestinians to step up efforts on the international stage to seek a state.
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