“I don’t know what Netanyahu’s intentions are and what’s going through his head”, he said, “but I have my opposition too and there were demonstrations here against the renewal of negotiations. I respect the demonstrators but I’m determined and serious about making progress towards achieving peace. Without peace there will be tragedies here. There is an opportunity now. Look at what’s happening all around us. Everything is in turmoil. Now is the time to reach an agreement.” Abbas said that he intends to put any agreement to a referendum and that he’s convinced that a majority of Palestinians will support it. Abbas noted that the negotiations have to deal with future borders of the Palestinian state. He said that Palestinians would accept changes to the 1967 borders as part of land swap agreements. “Let’s lay down a map and start marking the borders,” he said. The Palestinian president was asked during the meeting whether he would agree to some Jewish settlements remaining under Palestinian sovereignty after the signing of a peace agreement. In reply, he did not dismiss this possibility. “These are details that need to be discussed. Every topic is up for negotiation, keeping an open mind. I’m not ready at this point to discuss specific settlements. Let’s begin with demarcating the borders and then we can see.” Abbas said that his goal was to reach a final agreement and not an interim one. He would, however, be willing to implement any agreement in stages. “In the absence of a final agreement that ends the conflict different elements will look for ways to sabotage things and derail the process”, he said. “I don’t want a Palestinian state with temporary borders but I’m willing to implement the process in stages. We’ll sign an agreement and implement it over several years just like you did in the agreement with Egypt over the withdrawal from Sinai.” (Haaretz)
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 22:42:30 +0000
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