en.wikipedia.com/
Gerald Holtom
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Various leaders around the world are now in agreement that the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations need to advance to direct talks, with some European leaders directly pressuring Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to agree to upgrade the discussions. According to Haaretz, a highly placed Jerusalem figure said the Mideast Quartet, the US, EU, Russia and the United Nations, had agreed to push for direct talks. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi each spoke with Abbas over the weekend, asking Abbas to declare his willingness to upgrade the talks.
An Arab League foreign minister’s summit is set for Thursday [July 29], and Abbas is expected to lay out the Palestinian Authority’s position on the talks at the meeting. The three world leaders reportedly promised Abbas they would work to keep the Israelis from stalling in the talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been calling for direct talks repeatedly, but so far Abbas has consistently placed preconditions on advancing the negotiations. A commonly mentioned precondition is halting all Israeli construction in the settlements and East Jerusalem. That demand has repeatedly been made in spite of the 10-month partial freeze that is set to run out this September.
According to a Jerusalem Post article last week, Abbas reportedly wants more clarity on border issues from the Americans, a key ally for Israel that has served as the mediator for the indirect talks. He reportedly said they can’t enter direct talks “without clarity.” However, previously the direct talks between Abbas and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were held with no preconditions.
(By Joshua Spurlock, BFP Israel Mosaic Radio, July 25, 2010)
Photo License: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peace_symbol.svg
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