Palestinian negotiators in the United States were slated to speak with Secretary of State John Kerry today about resuming negotiations with Israel and removing Israeli presence from the West Bank and east Jerusalem within three years.
Veteran negotiator Saeb Erekat and intelligence chief Majid Faraj represented Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the parley.
The discussions with Kerry will focus on establishing “a timeframe for ending Israel’s occupation to be agreed as soon as possible and not after the end of this year”, said a Palestinian official familiar with the plan Erekat will lay out.
In an interview with Palestinian TV last week, Abbas said it should only take “half an hour or an hour” to delineate the borders of a Palestinian state, since the United States agreed they should be based on the 1967 borders that existed before the war in which Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem. “There’s either a political solution or there isn’t. But going here and there, up and down, talking and not talking – it’s been 20 years and nothing has happened.”
Relations between Jerusalem and Ramallah appeared to warm during Operation Protective Edge, with increasing signs that Abbas may have been supportive of Israel’s actions against Hamas. The Palestinian leader and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly met in Amman just prior to the end of the Israeli military action.
In recent days, Abbas has not minced his words when speaking about Hamas and its leaders, allegedly referring to the organization’s head Khaled Mashaal as “a liar.”
Regional media suggests that Israeli intelligence agencies and the Palestinian Authority worked closely as of late to prevent Hamas from staging a coup against Abbas in the West Bank.
Other regional moderates appear to be of the same mind. In a recent meeting, Abbas is said to have told the emir of Qatar:
“Many Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the UAE asked me to marginalise Hamas and were opposed to my reconciliation deal with it.”
[Photo: U.S. Department of State / flickr]