Arab League endorses direct Palestinian-Israeli talks

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The Arab League has endorsed direct Palestinian peace talks with the Israelis, but has left the timing to the Palestinians, officials said.

The US has been pushing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to restart the direct talks, suspended since 2008.

Mr Abbas has been demanding guarantees on borders and a freeze on all Israeli settlement activity.

He wants progress in the indirect talks mediated by US envoy George Mitchell before resuming face-to-face talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is ready to discuss all the core issues of the decades-old conflict, and has accused the Palestinians of avoiding direct talks.

Thorny issues

The Arab League agreed in principle to direct talks with Israel provided the Palestinians saw fit, said Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, who chaired a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.

“Of course, there is agreement, but agreement over the principles of what will be discussed and the manner of the direct negotiations,” he said.

But the timing of the direct talks was “a matter for the Palestinian side to decide”, he said.

The Palestinians are under intense pressure to re-start direct talks from Washington, which says that having no talks will just make things worse, says the BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo.

US President Barack Obama has staked a lot of his reputation on making progress towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians, our correspondent says.

But the Palestinian leader said he would only do so if Israel agreed to a complete halt in settlement construction and accepts a Palestinian state in territories seized in the 1967 Middle East war – the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

“When I receive written assurances [about] accepting the 1967 border and halting the settlement [building], I will go immediately to the direct talks,” Mr Abbas was quoted as saying by Egypt’s state-owned news agency before the meeting.

Mr Netanyahu has accepted the idea of Palestinian statehood with conditions, but has ruled out giving up control of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.

Israel also acceded to US pressure to temporarily limit settlement building in the West Bank, but its 10-month moratorium expires in September.

Mr Abbas suspended negotiations after Israel carried out an offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December 2008 in response to rocket fire.

BBC

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Comments

24 responses to “Arab League endorses direct Palestinian-Israeli talks”

  1. PROPHET Avatar

    Arab,

    I totally disagree with you that Palestine is or was or should be a Muslim state. Before you decide how you want Palestine to look like, show us how you are going to Liberate any Palestinian land for you to create a state. You may have a point when you talk about Israel as a foreign entity, but for you to mix Palestine with Islam is so wrong and very counter productive. PALESTINE was always home for Christians and Muslims, and Jews. Get realistic, please.

    1. George Haddad N.J. Avatar
      George Haddad N.J.

      Since when fanatics are realistics? they’re blind with extremism and have no logic.

    2. George Haddad N.J. Avatar
      George Haddad N.J.

      Since when fanatics are realistics? they’re blind with extremism and have no logic.

  2. PROPHET Avatar

    Arab,

    I totally disagree with you that Palestine is or was or should be a Muslim state. Before you decide how you want Palestine to look like, show us how you are going to Liberate any Palestinian land for you to create a state. You may have a point when you talk about Israel as a foreign entity, but for you to mix Palestine with Islam is so wrong and very counter productive. PALESTINE was always home for Christians and Muslims, and Jews. Get realistic, please.

  3. If people continue to believe in ¨religious states¨,there will be no peace in the Middle East!The Middle East is the cradle of all civilizations and all have to be respected!Tolerance!Tolerance!

    1. George Haddad N.J. Avatar
      George Haddad N.J.

      Fauzia once again i agree with you. You’re very wise and very objective.

  4. If people continue to believe in ¨religious states¨,there will be no peace in the Middle East!The Middle East is the cradle of all civilizations and all have to be respected!Tolerance!Tolerance!

  5. George Haddad N.J. Avatar
    George Haddad N.J.

    Moustapha as much as I hated Arafat one thing about him he wanted to create id and maybe he did before his death where its showing mosque and a church. I have read about two christians brothers who converted and fighting alongside their muslim brothers. Christians there fight as much as the muslimes. I know many muslims there respect them and look after them. Its the extremists i am concerned with like Al Qaada and others who are fanatic and wanted to drive not only jews, but christians and muslims too who don’t follow their lines of religion. As far as the russians I am going to sound stupid here hate to say and maybe I should not have thrown it there. But several ministers in the past talked about it and i can’t remember how it goes. hate to say i don’t listen anymore or go to church much. But same message was repeated that the jews waiting for the messiah to build their temple. However these stories are not just made up by them but they somehow extracted from translating some part of the bible which i do not remember honestly. But part of it they talk about the jews waiting for the messiah to help build their temple where things will be peacefull for 7 years. But the following seven years will be marred with wars and talks about the russian armies black corpses burnt by nuclear bombs. sorry i am not all clear and didn’t explain it well and its due to my bad memory of things. Moustapha i hope i didn’t offend you in any way Bro. And i am in no way a christian extremists.. take care!

    1. moustapha Avatar
      moustapha

      Not so ever habibi. No offense take what so ever.

      By the way i was only curious cause in islam we have prophecies for the coming of the day of judgment and i find it fascinating to link the connections between the bible and the Quran.

      Peace to you khayeh and Have a great weekend.

    2. moustapha Avatar
      moustapha

      Not so ever habibi. No offense take what so ever.

      By the way i was only curious cause in islam we have prophecies for the coming of the day of judgment and i find it fascinating to link the connections between the bible and the Quran.

      Peace to you khayeh and Have a great weekend.

    3. Walid Khouri Avatar
      Walid Khouri

      George,

      Let me tell you a secret…

      Nothing is going to happen… LOL

      All those books tell tales of not so modern day myth. After billions and billions of years the Sun will burn out into a dwarf and right before that it will incinerate everything on this planet. If humans would wanna survive they would do so by embracing space explorations and moving on to other planets.

  6. George Haddad N.J. Avatar
    George Haddad N.J.

    Moustapha as much as I hated Arafat one thing about him he wanted to create id and maybe he did before his death where its showing mosque and a church. I have read about two christians brothers who converted and fighting alongside their muslim brothers. Christians there fight as much as the muslimes. I know many muslims there respect them and look after them. Its the extremists i am concerned with like Al Qaada and others who are fanatic and wanted to drive not only jews, but christians and muslims too who don’t follow their lines of religion. As far as the russians I am going to sound stupid here hate to say and maybe I should not have thrown it there. But several ministers in the past talked about it and i can’t remember how it goes. hate to say i don’t listen anymore or go to church much. But same message was repeated that the jews waiting for the messiah to build their temple. However these stories are not just made up by them but they somehow extracted from translating some part of the bible which i do not remember honestly. But part of it they talk about the jews waiting for the messiah to help build their temple where things will be peacefull for 7 years. But the following seven years will be marred with wars and talks about the russian armies black corpses burnt by nuclear bombs. sorry i am not all clear and didn’t explain it well and its due to my bad memory of things. Moustapha i hope i didn’t offend you in any way Bro. And i am in no way a christian extremists.. take care!

  7. George Haddad N.J. Avatar
    George Haddad N.J.

    Moustapha I am going whatever I can to research what i said and I will let you know when i post it here. I am sure there many wise and muslim scholars who have good predictions and they have happened.

    Peace to you and you have a greate weekend too Bro.

  8. George Haddad N.J. Avatar
    George Haddad N.J.

    Moustapha I am going whatever I can to research what i said and I will let you know when i post it here. I am sure there many wise and muslim scholars who have good predictions and they have happened.

    Peace to you and you have a greate weekend too Bro.

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