Abu Mazen: "We Share No Common Ground with Netanyahu's Government"

Sept. 24, 2009 - PRLog -- Only a few days have passed since the summit meeting took place in the United States, between President of the United States Barak Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), and Abu Mazen is already closing the door behind him.

In an interview that was published this morning by the London newspaper "Al Hayyat", Abu Mazen called the Netanyahu government "a real problem", referring to the lack of common ground between the two leaders to renew peace negotiations. Abu Mazen emphasized that he cannot agree to a partial settlement construction freeze, since the concept of a settlement freeze implies a complete halt of construction.

Abu Mazen repeated his demand that the peace talks must begin again from the same point at which they left off during the period when Olmert's government was in office, and that the negotiations must address all the central issues originally raised.

According to the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, certain agreements had already been reached with the previous Israeli government. He said, "There were maps drafted by both sides and proposals for territorial exchanges, and thus we cannot return to point zero."

When asked whether there were significant differences of opinion between the Israelis and himself with regard to the nature of the negotiations, Abu Mazen answered, "The Netanyahu government is a real problem and there is no common ground for negotiations with it. Construction in the settlement is continuing. Netanyahu is declaring Jerusalem and [Palestinian] refugees topics not up for negotiation, so what is there to talk about?"

Abu Mazen was then asked why he agreed to participate in the summit meeting in New York. He responded that he had come in order to prevent a crisis with the Americans. "We have never opted for a negative approach. We had the choice of not coming to the meeting, of not presenting our position, but we would have lost out. Therefore, we decided to participate in the meeting, and present the Palestinian position in a clear manner."

Abu Mazen also commented on the change in the American tone with regard to a settlement freeze – "restraining settlement activity" is the new phrase Obama used. "Our position opposite Obama has always been clear. We demand a complete settlement construction freeze. He decided to change his wording, but that is not our position.
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