"Meetings are now taking place between the US administration and us on the one hand, and between Israel and the US administration on the other hand," Erekat said.
Erekat also said none of the security ideas offered by the US to the two sides were written down, but rather expressed verbally so as to check the pulse to the proposals first.
jpost.com
22/12/13
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Palestinians rule out extending peace talks...
ReplyDeletePalestinian leaders have ruled out the possibility of extending peace talks with Israel beyond their nine-month timeframe, chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said Dec. 23.
“We turn down any extension,” Erakat told the official Voice of Palestine radio station, adding that some of his recent remarks about the matter had been misinterpreted. “I said that if we reach an agreement on all final status issues, we could continue to discuss the details,” he said.
At a dinner with journalists last week, Erakat had raised the possibility of talks being prolonged for up to a year if parties agree on key issues by the time the current talks wrap up on April 29. The U.S. State Department welcomed his statement, while saying the nine-month schedule still remained in place.
At an Arab League meeting in Cairo on Dec. 21, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “stressed his rejection of all partial and temporary solutions and that the solution should resolve all final status issues, within nine months which cannot be extended, expiring April 29,” said Erakat.
During this meeting, the pan-Arab bloc gave “its full support to the Palestinian position,” the Palestinian negotiator told the radio station on the phone from Qatar. Outgoing Palestinian negotiator Mohammad Shtayyeh said last week that the talks “are not going to take us anywhere.”
“The Israelis want to replace occupation by force with occupation by an invitation, with our signature, and it will never happen,” he added, calling on the international community to intensify pressure on Israel. Palestinian negotiators have repeatedly warned it would be impossible to continue talks if Israel keeps on demolishing Palestinian homes and constructing settlements.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/palestinians-rule-out-extending-peace-talks.aspx?pageID=238&nID=60042&NewsCatID=352
23/12/13
UN agency condemns Israeli demolition of Arab homes, urges adherence to international law ....
ReplyDelete26 December 2013 – The United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees today condemned Israel’s latest demolitions in the West Bank which have displaced 68 people, including 32 children, in the depths of winter, saying it is violating international law and calling on it to abide by its obligations.
“Because of these demolitions, which violate international law, these historically self-sufficient communities have been forced to endure the pitiless seasonal weather in inadequate housing, entirely dependent on international assistance,” the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said of the demolitions which took place on Christmas Eve in Ein Ayoub near Ramallah and Fasayil Al Wusta near Jericho in the Jordan valley.
“We call on Israel to abide by its obligations under international law, most particularly to ensure the humane treatment and protection of the civilian Palestinian population at all times, including through an immediate halt to administrative demolitions,” it added, noting that to date at least 1,103 Palestinians have been displaced throughout the West Bank in Area C, and East Jerusalem, exceeding the numbers for 2012.
Area C, where Israel still retains control over security, planning and building, represents over 60 per cent of the West Bank.
The majority of those displaced most recently, 46, are Palestinian refugees, including a five-year-old girl who is paralyzed from the waist down. They are now being sheltered in tents distributed by the Palestinian Red Crescent, with night-time temperatures plunging to around zero Celsius, while some 750 head of sheep and goats are without shelter at this crucial lambing season...............http://elepiloges.blogspot.gr/2013/12/un-agency-condemns-israeli-demolition.html
26/12/13
Palestinian leaders prefer to turn to UN than extend peace talks, senior official says...
ReplyDeleteAbbas is under pressure to resume unilateral action if Israel refuses to make concessions and peace talks fail to show progress.
The Palestinian leadership is pessimistic about John Kerry’s upcoming visit and anticipates that the U.S. Secretary of State will try to exert pressure on the Palestinian Authority to extend the talks... .......http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.566575
2/1/14
Kerry's 'framework' expected to be 'outline' of future agreement ...
ReplyDeleteUS Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to meet separately with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas soon after his arrival Thursday afternoon to discuss his ideas for a framework agreement that would serve as an outline for a final agreement.
A senior state department official said Kerry was not expecting any breakthrough during this trip, his 10th to the region since taking office in February. Rather, he said, Kerry was pushing for the sides to agree on guidelines for what the final deal would look like. Then the job would be to fill in the details.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Kerrys-framework-expected-to-be-outline-of-future-agreement-336841
2/1/14
Erekat: Netanyahu must prepare Israelis for sacrifices.....
ReplyDeleteChief Palestinian negotiator says PA has made compromises but other side has not; says he has seen no framework proposal by Kerry.
I haven’t heard any Israeli official from this government saying two states,” Erekat said in English. “I haven’t heard any leader in this government saying East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. I haven’t heard any Israeli saying we recognize the State of Palestine’s right to exist in peace and security… I want for the first time now, Mr. Prime Minister of Israel, to address his people, to tell his people, to prepare his people for what is needed, yes, and to say, 1-9-6-7″ — a reference to the Palestinian demand for a final border along Israel’s pre-1967 boundaries.
Erekat also said that the PA would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state. “The same thing as I have birth certificate and you have birth certificate, nations have birth certificates. Israel’s registered name at the UN is the State of Israel.”.......http://www.timesofisrael.com/erekat-netanyahu-must-prepare-israelis-for-sacrifices/#ixzz2t7maszOB
12/2/14
MIDDLE EAST PEACE: Talks Ongoing / Working towards a Framework. -Marie Harf, Deputy Spokesperson, Daily Press Briefing........
ReplyDelete.......QUESTION: Can we move to Palestinian-Israeli talks?
MS. HARF: Yes, we can.
QUESTION: Okay. First of all, is there anything that you could update us on with regard to the talks?
MS. HARF: Nothing new.
QUESTION: Is there any talks ongoing now?
MS. HARF: We’ve said that the talks have been ongoing. I don’t have any specifics to outline for you.
QUESTION: Okay. Now, there has been a great many leaks and so on about the nature of the framework agreement and so on. I want to ask you specifically on the issue of the Jewish state, which you apparently are demanding of the Palestinians. Does it say that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a home of the Jewish people? Is that what --
MS. HARF: I, again, appreciate your persistence in asking about details, but we’re just not going to talk about any of them from here.
QUESTION: Okay. Also, the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was saying that whatever proposal Mr. Kerry is getting ready to sort of announce should stick to international norms and regulations and laws. Do you have any comment on that?
MS. HARF: I don’t, Said. I think we’re engaged in these negotiations. We hope to get a framework soon to continue the process. But beyond that, I’m just not going to litigate it in public.
QUESTION: So do you take his statement, Erekat’s statement, as an implicit suggestion that maybe Secretary Kerry is not adhering to the international perception of this long problem?
MS. HARF: That’s not how I take it, and I don’t think people here are in the business of trying to read hidden meanings into what people say publicly. What we’re focused on and our team is focused on is the private discussions we’re having with the two parties to see if we can make progress on a framework.
QUESTION: And finally, on the issue of the proposal, I know that the Secretary of State said that each side has the right or holds the right to submit reservations on each side. So what value would this framework agreement, if each sides comes up with like 20 or 15 or 30 reservations on this agreement? What kind of a Plan B you have?.......http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2014/02/221610.htm#MIDDLEEASTPEACE
12/2/14