Netanyahu on Palestinian Talks: “Everything’s on the Table”

July 21, 2011

The Palestinians suspended peace talks with Israel last year following the end of Israel’s unprecedented 10-month settlement construction freeze, although the Palestinians had previously delayed the resumption of direct talks for months of the freeze. Israel has repeatedly called for negotiations to resume.

Netanyahu’s willingness to return to talks now in the Al-Arabiya interview was dismissed as insufficient by the Palestinians. In comments to the Palestinian WAFA News Agency, Palestinian Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeineh said that they still demand Netanyahu freeze settlement construction and accept the 1967 lines as the basis for borders negotiations.

Based on Abu Rdeineh’s comments, it would appear that those pre-negotiations concessions are essential for the Palestinians to consider the talks to be serious enough. He said that like Netanyahu, Abbas is also willing to negotiate anywhere if their preconditions are met.

The 1967 lines were armistice lines between Israel and several Arab states, including Jordan and Egypt, prior to the Six-Day War. Used in this context, such a territorial concession by Israel in peace talks would give the Palestinians basically the entire West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and the Gaza Strip.

Posted on July 21, 2011

Source: (By Joshua Spurlock, BFP Israel Mosaic Radio, July 21, 2011)

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