[ 29/05/2009 - 06:55 PM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas said on Friday that nothing new has emanated from the meeting between former PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barak Obama and that the meeting was disappointing for the Palestinian people.
"The meeting between Abu Mazen and Obama did not produce anything new, it was disappointing, especially that Abu Mazen expressed readiness to implement the road-map, which means that the PA is fully committed to security coordination with the Zionist enemy which targets the rooting out of resistance and the liquidation of Hamas and reinforces the internal Palestinian rift, as the road map was rejected by all Palestinian factions except for Abu Mazen's commitment to it," said Fawzi Barhoum, the Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip.
Barhoum further said that Obama's wishes are not enough, especially in the light of the continued Zionist escalations in terms of assassinations, arrests, land confiscation and siege. He stressed that Palestinian people do not attach much hope to such meetings which never produced any real pressure on the Zionist enemy to end the siege, end the building of settlements or stop the aggression.
"The result of Abu Mazen's security commitments to the occupation, including those stipulated by the road map is a police authority that works to protect the occupation at the expense of the Palestinian citizen and his rights," Barhoum explained.
He finally said that Abbas is guilty of continuing the policy of political detention, hampering the national reconciliation talks, forming illegitimate governments in Ramallah which means he has nothing to contribute towards a successful outcome of the reconciliation talks and cannot be trusted with the Palestinian interests as long as he is fully tied to American and Zionist dictates.
29/05/2009 United States President Barack Obama met Thursday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House, and pressed Israel on establishing a Palestinian state and freezing settlement construction.
Asked about the Israeli position on the two-state solution, Obama said he's confident that, if Israel looks at its long-term interests, it will realize the two-state solution is in the interests of the Israelis as well as the Palestinians. "I'm a strong believer in a two-state solution," Obama told reporters with Abbas seated at his side.
Obama held White House talks with Abbas 10 days after hosting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains at odds with the US over settlements and Palestinian statehood.
Obama made clear that he would continue to push Netanyahu, who has expressed his resistance to call for a total freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank.
Netanyahu has been a longtime skeptic of proposals to create a Palestinian state, and he refused to commit to the concept during his US visit.
"I think that we don't have a moment to lose," Obama said, "but I also don't make decisions based on just the conversation that we had last week because obviously Prime Minister Netanyahu has to work through these issues in his own government, in his own coalition."
The US president declined to specify a time frame for the settlement of conflict, saying he didn't want to set an "artificial time table."
Obama and Abbas met at the White House before the Palestinian Authority leader meets Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and other senior officials.
CONFLICTING DEMANDS
Abbas gave Obama a document that would keep intact that requirement and also offer a way to monitor a required Israeli freeze on all settlement activity, a timetable for Israeli withdrawal and a realization of a two-state solution.
"The main purpose of presenting this document to President Obama is to help him in finding a mechanism to implement the Arab peace initiative," Abbas told the Associated Press.
On Tuesday, Israeli vice president and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon ruled out the creation of any “Palestinian entity” at a conference at the Knesset entitled "Alternatives to the Two-State Outlook." He added that “efforts to find a solution to the conflict must stop.” According to Israeli media, the Knesset conference was intended to send a message that opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state was common among mainstream Israelis and politicians not considered extremist. He said the best that could be done now was to stop efforts to find a solution to the conflict and manage it instead, “by encouraging reforms and economic development in the Palestinian Authority.”
Yaalon goes even further in his argument, adopting a rather belligerent tone: "I do not see any chance of establishing a viable Palestinian entity in Judea and Samaria and/or the Gaza Strip that could sustain itself economically," Ya'alon said. "The gap between Israel as a First-World country and a Palestinian Third-World country is a recipe for instability. I also don't see a chance to form a viable Palestinian entity in Judea and Samaria and/or the Gaza Strip that could bring stability on the security front, while chances the entity would be adversarial are very high."
Asked about his impression of the meeting with Obama, Abbas expressed confidence in Obama as well as the Israelis and said: "It was a serious and open meeting and President Obama seems determined on what he has said...I believe that if the Israelis would withdraw from all occupied Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese land, the Arab world will be ready to have normal relationships with the state of Israel.”
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