Palestinians push for international conference, US is open | tidings

UNITED NATIONS (AP) The Palestinian Foreign Minister said Monday an international peace conference is the only way to generate momentum to bring Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate a peace deal. The US ambassador said the Trump administration has no objection to meeting with international partners.

Riyad Malki, the top Palestinian diplomat, strongly supported Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for calling for an international conference early next year, telling the UN Security Council: “Everything else is volatile and futile.”

Abbas called for a conference in his virtual speech at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly of world leaders in late September to begin a genuine peace process. He called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make preparations together with the so-called Quartet of Middle East Mediators, the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

US Ambassador Kelly Craft was skeptical that a conference would produce results, but said the Trump administration, Israel’s closest and most important ally, was open to the opportunity raised by Abbas.

We have no objection to meeting with international partners to discuss the issue. But I have to ask, how does this differ from any other meeting convened on this issue over the last 60 years? she asked the council.

New Israeli Ambassador to Israel Gilad Erdan rejected the Palestinian call, accusing Abbas of rejecting any offer of peace made by the state of Israel and attacking Israel’s recent agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan instead of t ‘saw them as a new opportunity to start negotiations.

For more than three decades, the Palestinians have sought an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but imposed a devastating blockade when the Palestinian militant group Hamas took power from Abbas forces in 2007.

There have been no substantive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was first elected more than a decade ago, and the two sides are sharply divided on the core issues of the conflict.

Instead, Netanyahu has focused on building ties with Arab, African and Asian countries that have long supported the Palestinian cause. In Israel, the deal with the UAE, an oil-rich country with considerable regional influence, is seen as a historic breakthrough that could transform the Middle East.

The Palestinians have rejected President Donald Trumps’ proposal to end the conflict, which favors Israel overwhelmingly, and have responded by severing ties with the United States and Israel. Arguing that Washington is no longer a sincere mediator, they have called for a multilateral peace process based on UN resolutions and past agreements.

Craft encouraged Eastern countries and Security Council members to support Israeli-Palestinian negotiations based on the Trump peace plan and to embrace the opportunities presented by agreements with the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan.

Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, said it was ridiculous to claim that the Palestinians would not negotiate, stressing, among other things, the identification of final status issues by both sides, which would be negotiated based on the terms of reference and agreed parameters. internationally until 1999.

Here is Netanyahu’s stance on these issues: Jerusalem, including the occupied East Jerusalem, will be Israel, Malki said. Illegal settlements will remain in place. Refugees will remain refugees. Israel will continue to control our borders. Israel will control the entire Jordan Valley and with it most of our natural resources.

He said these positions are contemptuous and illegal “and show that Israel wants to make its occupation permanent.

Israel Erdan denied that Netanyahu had invited Abbas to Jerusalem many times and even offered to go to the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

But Abbas is wasting time calling for another useless conference, Erdan said. Instead, this council should call on the Palestinians to start negotiations based on the American vision for peace, which is a good starting point for lasting and real peace.

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