Monday 15 August 2011

Masri: Secret Abbas-Peres talks conflict with UN statehood bid


[ 15/08/2011 - 11:00 AM ]


GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas media spokesman Mushir al-Masri has called on Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to be explicit in how he deals with the Palestinians’ rights after it was discovered that he held secret talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

He said the talks conflicted with the PA’s recent bid to seek Palestinian statehood with the United Nations.
A Palestinian official told the AFP that Abbas secretly held four meetings with Peres in recent months in a bid to restart peace talks.
In a statement on Sunday, MP Masri condemned the steps, “whether on a political or security level”, saying the aim was to strike Palestinian resistance forces and protect Israel and Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
The statement says that at a time when the Palestinians are seeking to reconcile, the negotiating party insists on proceeding with "peace talks" that have proven a failure, and that going to the UN while still holding peace talks is a clear contradiction, playing on the sediments of Palestinians.
Masri reiterated Hamas’s rejection of any agreement that detracts the rights of the Palestinians, holding Abbas responsible for risking the Palestinian cause.

Abbas Confirms He Held Secret Talks with Peres

Local Editor
Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas confirmed he held four secret meetings with Zionist President Shimon Peres in an attempt to resume stalled “peace” talks.

A Palestinian official quoted on Saturday Abbas as saying at a meeting of his Fatah party: “I met Shimon Peres four times in Amman and London in an attempt to restart negotiations and the peace process on a correct foundation".
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the party meeting took place on Friday.

"Shimon Peres assured me that the negotiations between us could lead to results that could be adopted by the Netanyahu government," the official quoted Abbas as saying.
However he said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had thwarted those “efforts”.

"After the first four meetings, a fifth was scheduled in Amman, but Shimon Peres apologized and said, 'I'm sorry but the government does not accept that we negotiate and I cannot do anything,'" Abbas said according to the official.

Israeli media reported in early August the cancellation of a planned secret meeting in Amman between Abbas and Peres after Netanyahu's refusal to give the president a clear mandate for negotiations.

Source: Israeli Media

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